Can you eat Goat's Cheese?

[NewMummy5July2011]

This is the one cheese I can't quite figure out if it is safe to eat or not... anyone know?

afaik the same rules apply as to normal cheese - ie., must be pasteurised, no blue cheese, no soft cheese etc. It's the listeria risk rather than the animal the milk comes from.

I might be wrong though...

This is from the Food Standards Agency..
Is it OK to eat goats' cheese when I'm pregnant?
There are different types of goats' cheeses available. The type that is probably most common in the UK has a white rind similar to Brie and Camembert. This type of goats' cheese is sometimes called Chevre and is often served in restaurants, for example in a goats' cheese salad. You should avoid this when you are pregnant. However, other types of goats' cheese that don't have this kind of rind should be fine to eat, particularly hard cheeses

Ah, thanks for that - I've been avoiding it so far and really miss it - thought I'd check it out to be sure!

when i ate some goats cheese from Waitrose and then panicked and rang them, they told me that all cheese they sell is pasteurised, unless it specifically says on the packaging otherwise. Which I wish I had known before, as I was wondering why I couldn't find anything in the shops i was allowed to eat...

I'm still not 100% sure where that fits with the rind thing though, as I have heard that before too.

I am with you on that redundant - I missssssssed brie so much with pg1 1 and 2 then heard you can get it pasturised so is back on the list for pg3

I had hard goats cheese for the first time on Friday (CO-OP had two types, the soft type with rind and the hard one). Unfortunately, I didn't think it was quite as nice as the soft one.

Sorry ladies - its not the pasteurization that's the issue :(.

As I understand it, hard cheeses are safe to eat as they have a high salt content and so are pretty inhospitable to bacteria - they are considered safe to eat irrespective of whether the milk was pasteurized or not. Mould ripened cheeses (such as brie, Camembert, Stilton, chevre) are, of necessity, nice places for bacteria to grow - pasteurization can only remove bacteria at a very early stage of the cheese production process and if a listeria bacterium does then manage to get on the cheese it will find a very hospitable environment indeed.

You can still eat it as long as its cooked. Not quite the same, I know, but scooping gooey middle of baked camembert can be quite satisfying (add garlic, chili, etc to taste...)

Goats cheese quite nice cooked - nice spinach and goats cheese tart. Or a goats cheese pizza? I loooove goats cheese. Agree the hard stuff's not quite the same!

Grrrrrrr for the brie! Back off the list - bring it on in a big sarnie the day DC is born then!!

Hmmm... do you think it would be safe to eat it in a goats cheese and sundried tomatoe cheesecake that's been cooked? There's not much for me to choose from on a wedding menu and this is the only thing that looks appealing...what do you think?

I would - but I'm not uber-cautious around cheese, especially as has been cooked. Sounds yummy.

If it's been cooked than it's fine.

Also, last few listeria outbreaks have been caused by contaminated salad and broccoli, iirc-in the States, I think. In theory it can be found on a lot of stuff, so tbh I wouldn't panic. If the cheese, ham etc come from a reputable producer, chances are tiny. And, as I said, you could get it from a tomato (and just rinsing it won't get rid of it), so relax.

But then I ate fois gras and all cheeses during pg.

What do you define as a listeria outbreak?

Between 2001 and 2007 there were an average of 166 cases of listeriosis/year reported in England and Wales. It is suspected that the number of cases is under-reported (possibly by a large degree) as non-invasive listeriosis is often mistaken for a mild bout of flu or a stomach bug.

Of the 166 reported cases/year, 18/year were pregnant women (from the NHS). Estimates are that 22% of pregnant women who contract listeriosis will loose their babies.

The risk of contracting listeriosis may be tiny but the consequences are pretty bad.

Cooked cheese off the "risky" list is fine - so the cheesecake sounds fine :)

We all have a different perception of risk, and will judge risks differently. All we can do is look at the information available and decide on what level of risk we, as individuals, are happy to accept.