Forbidden cheeses

[evansmummy]

I know what these are but is it ok to eat them cooked? Or just not at all?

I am not too sure but will watch for answers with an active interest :D

Someone said on here a few weeks back that blue cheese sauce is ok as it's cooked. Would assume the same goes for other cheeses?

cooked cheese should have all harmful bacteria destroyed by high temperatures so chomp away!

Marvellous, cauliflower and blue cheese macaroni is going on the menu! Whoop!!

I cooked a sinful macaroni cheese with dolce latte so I could have blue cheese! Cook until the cheese bubbles and you're fine. Enjoy!

TBH you really can overdo the food anxiety thing. You are no more likely to get food poisoning when pg then at any other time so in the course of the 9 months if you do occasionally have a bit of "forbidden" food, please don't worry about it.

not just cooked - it must be pasteurised (eg, brought to boiling to kill bacteria) which may not be practicable... i would avoid consumption unless you are cooking yourself

lilly, I will be cooking it myself and will cook until absolutely piping. There'll only be the tiniest amount (50g between 4 people), it gets melted into the sauce and then baked for 30 minutes at 200 degrees! As others have said, the risk of listeria from cheese is no greater than when not pregnant. I ate parma ham the other day without realising I wasn't supposed to and nothing happened I'm going for the blue cheese.

Sorry for wasting all your time - just found this. Scroll down a bit, as long as they're cooked thoroughly they're fine!

No such thing as wasting time.
I for one now plan to have baked camembert for dinner. Didn't know I could if it was cooked properly :)

As someone else has said, it's the pasteurised thing that's important. From my experience it is now actually quite hard to find a non-pasteurised brie these days, it is really worth checking the packet as you may find you are allowed all sorts of unexpected goodies...

FWIW, I agree with trixie... you really can overdo the forbidden foods thing. I can't actually think of anyone I have ever known who has been made ill from goats cheese / blue cheese etc. The times I have had food poisoning they have both been caused by (presumably badly prepared) salads in pubs - neither of which would have been on the banned list. I am currently pg with DC3 and am much, much more concerned about who is preparing my food - I would only eat out in a "good" restaurant but am quite happy to take my chances on blue and soft cheeses.

Listeria is killed by heating food to a minimum of 73.5c (that's how milk is pasturised).

Even brie made with pasturised milk is a risk as its a mould rind cheese and not suitable (unless you cook it/toast it under the grill). The milk may be pasturised but the mouldy rind in which the brie matures can also contain listeria (Food Standards Agency).

See the Food Standards agency website for the best advice on what is safe to eat in pregnancy.

I do the forbidden cheeses toasted on occassion or as a macaroni cheese too. And if you don't mind making the extra effort, there is always Tartiflette with Reblonchon. www.waitrose.com/content/waitrose/en/home/recipes/recipe_directory/t/tartiflette.html
Seriously good and you really get the taste of the reblonchon. I'd advise using more like 400g of reblonchon. Its heart attack on a plate but extremely yum.

Same with forbidden meats - also good toasted/cooked.

If you fancy it, go for it. As long as you don't eat cheese from the floor in a grotty farm, you are unlikely to get ill. I agree with the others, you can go mad with the food thing. Nothing is EVER risk free.

It's definitely the pasterized thing - so I eat camembert and goats cheese etc, as long as it's pasterized (as per my consultant's instructions). However, she did tell me to avoid blue cheese, even pasterized, on the basis that the mould isn't such a good idea. Cooked is fine.

Having said that, I never cook with blue cheese myself so haven't had any. There is a particular blue cheese dish at my favourite restaurant where the cheese isn't cooked, just slightly melted so I have avoided it. DH knows that this dish is on my list of "immediately post-birth take aways or you will never get another child out of me"

Totally agree about overdoing the food thing. You are more likely to get listeria from lettuce! I have had food poisoning twice in my life, once from KFC and once from 'fresh' tuna at a restaurant. So what do you do - stay at home and eat bread and butter?! You would go crazy if you over think all this stuff. I haven't given up anything at all, other than my habit of sculling a bottle of wine on a Friday. Am 28 weeks now and never felt better.

Thanks all, I know all this of course but it's so easy to get paranoid when you hear people saying don't eat this or that, or when you read all the pregnancy blurb. I am cooking the blue cheese though so I will stop worrying about it. Thanks for the support!

See here

Don't get obsessive about it, you are honestly not going to do yourself or the baby any harm. The thing which convinced me the most is that in Spain, pregnant women are told not to eat salad... just in case.

Brilliant article, Lizzy. I've been a bit like her wrt the alcohol thing cos you can't in the same breath say 'no alcohol' and 'one or two units once or twice a week'. It's one or the other. So I did a bit o research myself on that one. Interesting what she says about cheese. I just wish there was more honest information so that we as pregnant women could make proper choices rather than being guilted into doing/not doing certain things. Thanks, very interesting!

That is a fantastic article, thanks for posting it Lizzy. I have been scoffing cheese non stop (am 27 weeks) so now feel completely justified!

It's really frustrating hearing people say 'oh you shouldn't eat x y and z' and when you say 'why exactly'? You just get a blank look.

That's a great article.

Here's another (less scientific, more fun) article that I've been posting all over MN recently: here

I am starting to reassess my no blue cheese rule...