Bugger, I ate goats cheese on pizza!

[Clare123]

I had a lovely pizza from Pizza Express enjoyed every mouthful until I found out that I shouldn't be eating it. It was hot, but probably not piping hot! Bugger!

I am only 6 weeks pg, if that makes a difference?

it should be ok as it is likely to be pasteurised anyhow. dont stress yourself out about it.

Crikey. It was cooked - it was FINE!

Congratulations on your pregnancy!

The cheese has been cooked through so that should be enough. I was told that goats cheese probably wasn't any risk at all anyway so I seriously doubt it'll cause you any problems.

They say not to for fear of listeria - so watch out to see if you get an upset tummy. You'll probably be fine but I'm no expert! I ate soft cheese and runny eggs throughout my pregnancies and both my both are absolutely fine.

Think the reason you shouldn't have it is incase it gives you bad food poisoning, so if you aren't feeling like death now, you're fine!

Goats cheese pizza from Pizza Express is lush, my favourite!

both my BOYS

Ah you'll be fine. It was cooked and I had no idea goats cheese was even an issue so ate tons of it during both pregnancies with no ill effects.

Thanks ladies, I am getting used to the idea of being pregnant again (baby no.3 and unexpected!). I promised myself I wouldn't worry, but then I ate goats cheese! Ok, will forget about it now!

It'll be fine. As everyone else has said, it was cooked, and it'll have been hot enough to kill any potential nasties when in the oven, even if it wasn't that hot by the time it got to your table.
Welcome to another 7.5 months of eating stuff then going 'oh shit...'
And congratulations, by the way.

Cooked should be fine. I sorted out my stilton craving by eating a lot of lovely stilton and broccoli quiches - still trying to get rid of my extra weight now

As other people have mentioned most soft cheeses are now pasteurised which means the risk of listeria is basically non-existent.

It's also worth mentioning that in supermarkets it's a legal requirement in the UK to specify if a product is un-pasteurised - even the most authentic greek feta seems to be pasteurised these days and im sure pizza express have very stringent health and safety guidelines in terms of sourcing their ingredients - they probably wouldnt want to take the very slim risk of a listeria outbreak associated with un-pasteurised dairy.

Oooh, am I allowed a padana then? Does it count as cooked? Whoooooop!!! I've been avoiding it.

I think it's probably worth bearing in mind that in France women continue eating soft cheeses throughout pregnancy and think we are bonkers over here...!

At the end of the day it is all about risks and as Pootles says, it is one of the things that they advise you not to eat as more likely to give you food poisoning, so if you're ok now you'll be fine. TBH I am really early pregnant with DC3 and I have still been eating soft cheese as I just don't feel there is a risk with the products I have been buying. On the otherhand, something like liver I wouldn't eat at all as it's the build up of heavy metals that is the problem.

Your pizza was cooked, so I'm sure you'll be fine.

Re. the pasteurization/cheese issue - the concern is NOT whether or not the cheese was made from pasteurized milk. The concern is how hospitable the cheese itself is to bacterial growth:

Soft cheeses with a rind (such as brie, camembert, chevre) and mould ripened cheeses (roquefort, stilton) all provide a lovely place for bacteria to grow as they develop - they have to, their maturation process depends upon it. Pasteurization aims to ensure that only the desired bacteria are present, but if a stray listeria bug does slip through at any stage of the process these cheeses will give it a very nice home indeed.

Hard cheeses (cheddar, parmesan, red leicester) have a much higher salt content and, as such, don't encourage bacterial growth.

My understanding is that the current advice is that hard cheese is safe to eat (whether made from pasteurized milk or not) but soft, mould ripened cheeses should be avoided or cooked to eliminate the risk. As previously mentioned, the risk of listeriosis is very low in the UK - its just you're 20 times more likely to contract it while pregnant (but 20 times a very small number is still a very small number), listeriosis may go unidentified as the symptoms are often similar to flu or a tummy bug, and that the consequences for the pregnancy can be so severe.

Liver is a risk due to the high levels of Vitamin A (and the risk of listeriosis if its in a pate).

Everyone has different risk acceptance levels and will have a personal slant on the benefits and risks (one of the things I'm finding that makes parenting so much fun :o). Just make sure you're making risk assessments on the back of the right data :)

You'll be fine!!

Yum.
I eat goats cheese when I can. It's amazing on pizza.