'Strong meat'

[spatchcock]

OK, I think I'm going to be branded the 'mad meat woman of mumsnet' for this as I wrote an AIBU about meat a couple of days ago.

But ... I went to the butcher's today to buy beef sausages. It's a halal butcher's run by some lovely Algerian guys. One of the guys looked at my belly and said 'you should not eat these sausages - they are three days old and very strong.' I asked if I could get sick and he said I could! He also said I should always ask how old the meat is. He was adamant that I should not touch them.

Is this a cultural thing? I assume that if he sees the sausages as fit for regular human consumption they should be ok for me!

I'm going to eat one. They are fantastic sausages and I have been eating them for two years without getting ill. But has anyone else encountered the 'strong meat' advice?

Never heard that before sounds mad! if that was the case i'm sure we'd be informed by midwives etc you just need to make sure all meat is thoroughly cooked then it's fine!

He might have just meant that the flavour gets stronger and ms might be a problem? Less a "don't eat" and more a "beware the consequences"?

Are they air-dried like salami or raw ready for cooking? Either way ad long as you cook them through properly I would have thought it would be ok.

There are huge cultural differences in attitudes to pg. I have experience of Nigerian and Indian. In Nigeria they seem similar to Algeria then - don't eat too much rich stuff.

In India an odd eg is that drinking the unpasturised milk from a cow which has recently given birth to a bullcalf will mean the baby you are carrying is a boy

I once drove my Indian neighbour to a local farm where the farmer would allow women to have milk. Was a nice man - wouldn't take any money (couldn't really as it is/was against EU regs). He told me that he had at least one woman a week. V sad really.

I don't know, obviously, but I'm guessing that it was probably a cultural thing.

Thanks guys. I feel fine today after eating two sausages!

Maybe you're right button - rich foods may not be seen as 'good' for pregnant women in some places. I get heartburn after too much rich food anyway so he may be onto something!

I haven't had any unpasturised milk from a cow which recently gave birth to a bull calf recently, so sex of baby could still go either way, really.

This post really made me :)

Spatchcock I wouldn't worry unduly. Didn't work for my neighbour -she had a girl, funnily enough!

And when her MiL said 'oh what a shame', my mate's DH left the room, walked back in and repeated the birth announcement adding in, after saying it was a girl 'and I'm delighted'.

Her MiL was a real cow.

When she had her 3rd (a boy) she said that she was now properly part of the family

button your mate's DH sounds like a star! What an awful thing to say about a new baby.

Funnily enough they don't talk much anymore!

The NHS advises pregnant woman to be very careful with sausages and minced meat. Your butcher might be familiar with their advice!

"Cook all meat and poultry thoroughly so that there's no trace of pink or blood. Take particular care with poultry, pork, sausages and minced meat, including burgers. It is fine to eat whole cuts of beef and lamb such as steaks, cutlets and joints (but not rolled joints) rare, as long as the outside has been properly cooked."

www.nhs.uk/planners/pregnancycareplanner/pages/carewithfood.aspx

On the other hand If a butcher advised me to stay away from some meat I would listen pregnant or not! It's three days old might a nice way of saying 'I would not touch the stuff'.

my friend read a book that said to avoid sausages and chutney "so I threw that horrid book in the bin!"

too bloody right, I eat a lot of sausages, I dont need to be worried now at 26 weeks, that and cake have been my old stable foods!

old stable foods? thats not what I meant at all.....

theonlyhb2 I read something in a pregnancy magazine about avoiding sausages - I binned that too. It's clearly ridiculous, if stuff's cooked properly I can't possibly see how sausages and mash is going to do anyone any harm.....