So can I eat a McFlurry?

[cupofteaplease]

I really fancied some ice cream and suggested a McFlurry as we were going near McDonald's, but dh said no as it's the same as Mr Whippy and I can't eat soft ice cream.

So I googled, and got conflicting advice, and during my Googling I read that pregnant women can't eat hot dogs either- what? Why? I know they are not nutritionally beneficial in anyway, but I have eaten a couple this pregnancy when I couldn't face anything with any real taste or texture!

Oh, and also, I ate feta cheese yesterday. Thought that only blue/soft cheeses were bad, but feta came up during my Googling.

Any other bizarre foods I should avoid? I'm getting it all wrong!

[Misty9]

feta - definitely fine as long as its pasteurised
mcflurry - I've also read conflicting advice but boy did I enjoy my creme egg one last week in the heat ;) oh, and I'm 21+5
I think in the UK it's fine as all eggs are vaccinated against salmonella (and the risk is uncooked/unpasteurised eggs in soft ice cream?)

[goodegg]

Marking my place for useful info on yet more tasty foods we're not meant to eat

I refuse to give up on Subway Italian BMT, even if the cured meat in it might give me listeria. I'm sure unwashed veg and poor food hygiene are more likely to give me listeria than runny cheese or cured meat from Tesco.

[goodegg]

Whoops just remembered I had a lovely Mr Whippy 99 last week

[Nell799]

I've had a Mr Whipy, and also eat soft yolked eggs . There is such large list of dos and don't that I only follow the major ones .

[lolajane2009]

i would but i'm a little piggy atm... had a mr whippy a few days ago and have a few times this pregnancy.

[CBear6]

The risk with soft ice cream isn't the eggs, it's the whipping process and the tubes it's piped through. There's an idea that the pipes and tubes and inside the machine gets coated with milk/cream and this residue could be very old and therefore "off" and your cone or tub of ice cream could be crawling with bacteria.

The way I see it I've never heard of anyone getting food poisoning from Mr Whippy or a McFlurry, I thoroughly enjoyed a McFlurry last week :)

I've also had hot dogs, it was too hot to cook properly last week so we grilled hot dogs and onions for tea with a side salad. They were from a tin which I would have thought would have been boiled or whatever it is they do to sterilise them at the factory.

I also refuse to give up Subway Italian BMT and a Sunday morning just isn't a Sunday morning without eggs for breakfast - sunny side up with a runny yolk please.

It's about common sense more than anything else. If the place you're buying from looks skeezy and dirty then don't eat there, if it's clean and has a good reputation or is a major chain then you know the odds are that you'll be fine. A little bit of what you fancy does you good and advice changes all of the time. My mam was told to have three servings of liver a week and a half of Guinness with her evening meal when carrying me because her iron was low, these days we're told to avoid liver and alcohol. When I was pregnant with DS in 2009 I was told to avoid peanuts and peanut products because DH is asthmatic and I get hayfever, this time round I've been told that it's no longer the case and have been troughing peanut butter on toast.

It's all relative, caution goes a long way but common sense goes even further.

I really want a McFlurry now ....

[Justfeckingdoit]

McFlurry. Check.
Mister Whippy. Check.
Feta. Check.

Woukd not get too het up about it, never kown anyone to get food poisening from any of the above.

[Justfeckingdoit]

Known. Dear me.

[SueSylvesterforPM]

I was told you couldnt

[Bunbaker]

Why on earth would you want to eat that cack? Get a proper ice-cream and enjoy it with relish. Mcflurries and Mr Whippy "ice-cream" have never been near a cow.

[PlumBumMum]

Exactly what cbear said

[Misty9]

just eaten a lovely creme egg mcflurry that DH brought home for me :)

[CointreauVersial]

Cbear6 is right - it's the fact that soft-whip ice cream is made from powder/water and soft-frozen, so there is the potential for bacterial contamination if the equipment hasn't been maintained properly.

You'd almost certainly be fine in Maccy-Ds, where they follow stringent procedures, but the scummy ice-cream van on the corner may not be such a safe bet.

Again, it all depends what level of risk you are comfortable with. I don't know what the stats are for Mr Whippy Food Poisoning, but I doubt they're massive.

[ChunkyPickle]

I always thought that when they said 'soft icecream' that they meant posh italian gelato made with egg... not that that would be an issue since we have innoculated chickens in the UK.

Can you imagine the outcry if Macdonalds started giving people food poisoning? IMO a McFlurry would be fine, but I'd look carefully at the icecream van before having a Mr Whippy (then again I'd do that if I wasn't pregant too)

[vj32]

If you have ever seen how McFlurry/Mr Whippy type icecream is made you wouldn't eat it. Honestly. It is yucky crap. And the machines are difficult to keep clean. MacDonald's are often run and staffed by teenagers. If you trust their hygiene practises, then eat there. I would just buy your own ice cream and make your own McFlurry.

[nickelbabe]

yes, it's fine - in fact, my Midwife expressly told me this - she said it was to do with dubious hygiene (in the mr whippy van), and that MacDonald's isn't that bad really.

in fact, she thoroughly recommended it if i felt the need for ice cream

[nickelbabe]

BTW, the ice cream in a MacFlurry is the same stuff they put in the milkshake - just frozen a bit more.
(i used to work at Burger King, and it's the same there)

I was also told about the runny yolk, and I told the midwife I couldn't give up runny yolks - explained I had my own chucks and they were vaccinated against salmonella, which she agreed was fine, as it was started because of the salmonella scare, and that's the only reason.

[TransatlanticCityGirl]

Jesus... if I avoided every possible food that someone online thought might possibly be a no-no, I'd live off a diet of water and bread.

After 7 months of conflicting advice, I'm of the opnion now that all the stress/worry women cause themselves over every tiny thing is probably more detrimental in the long run. Calm and happy mum = calm and happy baby. Be sensible and use common sense as others here have stated.... but at the end of the day, even if you do make a mistake and eat something you shouldn't, chances are it'll be no big deal anyway.

[edwinbear]

I've been to Nandos this afternoon and eaten both coleslaw and their frozen yoghurt from their Mr Whippy esque machine. Thoroughly enjoyed it I did too!

[danio7]

ahhhhhhhhh

all of the conflicting information is so confusing, why would anyone like to make it any more difficult than it already is for a pg woman!

drink, smoking and drugs are the only obvious nono.

I have not eaten soft cheeses or pate because it was advised my a midwife.
All of my salads have been from a BAG, I eat feta and Mcflurrys and love it!!

Would any of us even be here is any of the ridculous rules exsisted back in the sixties, what did our mum and nans do?!

I think stay away from the obvious.
I'm off to have a soft boiled egg and soldiers :o

[nailak]

when i was worknin mcds as a teenaer they would clean the shake machine and flush the pipes, sterilise nozzles etc every niht and mornin.

the shake and ice cream mix was kept in freezer then defrosted as needed

[Poppet45]

I've definitely broken more rules with this PG than my first - having had a huge craving for chorizo and nice cheese for one, then yogs with eggs in it. However I think it's worth taking issue with something someone said above about 'whose ever heard of anyone getting food poisoning from those foods' that's kind of the point: people in peak I hesitate to use the word 'normal' physical health don't, pregnant women with their compromised immune systems and super slow digestion to absorb every vitamin (and food borne pathogen) might and in fact definitely can. The only time I got sick last pregnancy was from some supposedly safe feta. I wouldn't go near a McFlurry with a grubby pokey stick!

[ButterflySally]

I wondered this too because I'd heard soft-serve icecream was a no-no. However I read through all the NHS and Food Standards agency advice for pregnant women and there was no mention of avoiding it. So I don't think it is particularly something to worry about.

[LizzyMathsWhizzy]

See here I think you can pretty much eat anything you want really, there isn't much scientific evidence behind the advice. If you have never given yourself food poisoning before, you probably won't start now! Note that in France, where everyone eats loads of white rinded and unpasteurised cheese, there is no advice related to cheese. In Spain you aren't allowed to eat any salad... Read the article, she did a lot more research than any of us have time for!

[goodegg]

Lizzy thank you for posting that article, it's really interesting and actually very informative. I agree that pg women are massively condescended to in terms of understanding and managing risk.

Toxoplasmosis from uncooked carrots or medium rare beef is apparently more common than from cat litter!

Well I made a lovely risotto with chorizo tonight, prepared and ate it then thought 'ooh, probably not allowed that'