Since when couldn't you eat ham whilst pregnant?????

[Ghosty]

I have just had a friend round for lunch who looked at me in horror as I tucked into a ham sandwich. She said that you can't eat ham! I am sure I ate ham when pg with DS (in the UK) but apparently here (NZ) it is a big no no ... risk of listeriosis and toxoplasmosis blah blah! I know about things like salami and pastrami (because they are cured not cooked) but I thought ham was cooked????
She then told me a story about a friend of hers who lost a baby at 5 months pregnant due to getting listeria from ham ................
Oh God ...... I have been eating ham sandwiches nearly every day since I found out I was pregnant ... I have cravings for ham and mustard (normally hate mustard) ... and as most other things make me feel sick then why can't I have a blinking ham sarnie?????
Next question ... is listeria one of those things that you (the mother) feel sick with or do you get it and not know that you have it and so has my ham eating been damaging my baby??
Aaaaaaggggghhhhh ... I so want this baby but I hate being pregnant and always worrying and feeling sick and not being able to eat stuff and ... and .... and .... Oh bum!
sorry

SamboM - have you honestly spent your whole life without hearing of Spam? Lucky you!!!! What about Ye Olde Oak ham that looks like it's supposed to be posh but is really like a huge lump of cat food WITH the jelly included!!! YUCK!!

Sorry, not mean to sound like an expert on tinned foods, just had too much tinned meat shoved down me on camping 'holidays'!!

I am sure all these blanket prohibitions on eating things are designed for people with no common sense and no idea about food safety - there is so much difference between the vacuum packed supermarket ham that has been kept in the fridge and the ham at the dodgy sandwich shop that has been sitting under the lights for ages, sliced with a knife that may have sliced all kinds of other stuff and handled by someone who may not have washed their hands properly.

Well at the risk of sounding a bit Annabel Karmelly, if you are desperate for ham couldn't you cook a gammon joint yourself? You just need to boil it up with some flavourings - nothing complicated, doesn't need constant attention. Easy peasy and delicious .

I was told by my GP not to eat convenience meals (you know - prepacked microwave meals) or any eggs which hadn't be hard boiled. Well bllcks to that, I want my baby as much as the next person but there is a limit!!! I've drastically cut down caffiene, totally avoid alcohol and avoid liver and soft cheese. That's enough precautions I think!

I was told you can eat ham as long as it's cooked but try to avoid anything else (eg, smoked, cured) and to buy it packaged not off a deli.
Remember our mums were all told to eat liver when they were expecting us!

Hello

This is the link to the Food Standards Agency page on this - here .

Based on this I would say there is no problem with ham - or with smoked or cured items either. It tells you to avoid if you are concerned but does not advise avoidance of these foods.

Hope this is useful for someone.