lobster: Is it ok to eat whilst pregnant?

[Jzee]

I'm going to a fancy restaurant tonight and am a bit worried about the menu and what I can eat. Does anyone know if it's ok to eat lobster?

General advice to pregnant women says to stay clear of Shellfish. Here is the Food standards take on it,

HTH and you can still enjoy your night out!

If you are trying to be very careful then don't order lobster as all shell fish is high risk for pregnant women.
Having said that, everything carries a risk, and it is extremely unlikely that eating the lobster will give you any problem, and extremely likely that you will enjoy it a lot...

Alas I think you are going to have to stay away from Lobster, also any soft cheeses so deep fried camembert is out!
I upset a fish and chip shop once by insisting that they didn't give me any green chips(!) but I'm sure that at your fancy restaurant they'll pick them out first!!

Cheese is Ok thoroughly cooked - I looked this up on the relevant gvmt websites - so deep fried camembert is fine as Listeria doesn't survive a thorough cooking process. This also applies to thoroughly grilled goats cheese - hoorah!

i never knew that and wondered why I got funny looks as I scoffed grilled lobster at 8 months

i ate lobster and prawns while pg. As long as they are fresh, cooked and from a reputable source you should be fine. Saying that, and having worked in the restaurant industry, my advice is NEVER eat fish in a restaurant on a monday. It can't be fresh as the fishermen didn't go out yesterday.

You can also eat lobster safely if it is thoroughly cooked and piping hot all the way through. Same goes for everything really. No piping hot food can contain listeria. And hard cheeses are all safe too.

Well- I was really unknowingly evil and ate about a million raw oysters when about 5 months preg with my boys and on holiday in France. I'd read the dos and don'ts religiously but somehow missed the shellfish embargo. Good grief but they were tasty though!

Hope you have a lovely meal, Jzee.

I didn't think hard cheeses were safe if they were made from unpasturised milk. Having said that, I ate Canadian cheddar throughout both pregnancies, only discovering later that it was unpasturised.

Listeria needs moisture to live and hard cheeses don't have enough, so even hard cheeses made from unpasteurised milk are fine, honest - even the govt website says so! And Listeria is very, very rare anyway. Not suggesting any pg woman eats a feast of oysters and brie, but even so, the chances of her getting a listeria infection would be v small.

Canadian cheddar.... unpasteurised.... really? I am Canadian and can (safely?) say that Health Canada (= their DoH) does not allow for UNpasteurised! Maybe it was for export

i do worry about all this eat this dont eat that stuff we here about, i know it's such a cliche, but common sense prevails!, when not pg you wouldnt eat anything that looked abit iffy, so why would you when pg. i ate all soft chees my neighbors free range eggs, and had mussels abroad and gave birth to very bouncing 81bs ds.

pregnancy can be full of worries just try and enjoy and eat what you normally eat!

i do worry about all this eat this dont eat that stuff we here about, i know it's such a cliche, but common sense prevails!, when not pg you wouldnt eat anything that looked abit iffy, so why would you when pg. i ate all soft chees my neighbors free range eggs, and had mussels abroad and gave birth to very bouncing 81bs ds.

pregnancy can be full of worries just try and enjoy and eat what you normally eat!

Just playing devils advocate. I remember reading that whilst adults can cope with low levels of say lysteria, it does cross the placenta and can cause problems for the baby with the underdeveloped immnue system. I have no idea where I remember reading this. Anyone know if this is true, and if this is why certain foods are banned?

I know why you have to be careful of vit. A, but as misspastry said, you wouldn't eat anything icky, so why do things that weren't icky become icky?

Just read in the Queen Charlottes guide to pregnancy and birth:

'Pate and soft cheeses...should be avoided altogether when you are pregnant. They can contain the listeria bacterium which is known significantly to increase the risk of miscarriage and stillbirth'

Honestly trying not to put a dampner of things, just trying to understand why so many bloody restrictions are placed on pregnant women.

God I'm craving pate!!

Well, they might contain the bacterium - it is very rare. I don't encourage anyone to take silly risks but I sometimes when pg forgot what was what and ate things that could have been risky but was OK. Anyway only blue or mould ripened soft cheeses are considered risky (eg brie, camembert) while cream cheeses (philadelphia etc) are totally fine. Pate is Ok if tinned and not liver.

Aloha, Have recently had craving for philadelphia cream cheese so its ok?, thats great news. Also do you know the cheese 'laughing cow'?, again another craving, shouldn't eat anyway as is something like 50% fat!! but is it ok. when preggers?..anyone know?

Its only the soft cheeses that are unpasturised and mould ripened, like Brie or Camembert. Things like cream cheese (Philadelphia and Laughing Cow) are all fine as they aren't made the same way.

Yup, go for that Laughing Cow. My ds and my stepdaughter are also addicts!

Thank you, I had a minor panic attack about it as when first pregnant was sure was ok, then started getting fanatical and couldn't see the pasteurised milk on it....but thats great in my break will go out and get some philly with crackers!