Freaking out - ate home made ice cream, risk of salmonella/listeria??

[user59457812]

OK - I know some of you are going to tell me to have a word with myself, but I am really freaking out.

I ate some 'home made' ice cream in a restaurant yesterday, and it didn't occur to me until afterwards that the recipe most likely contained raw egg (yolks, if not yolks and whites).

I've looked up the risk of salmonella/listeria and it is one of the things which you are supposed to totally avoid (it hadn't occurred to me until now). I feel sick and have dodgy digestion all the time anyway (I'm just over 12 weeks) so it's hard to tell if I have any symptoms of sickness or not! I live outside the UK and as far as I can find out raw eggs are not pasteurised here (they are in the US apparently) and don't have the 'Lion Mark' like they do in the UK.

Anyone know the statistical risk of infection? I've now read how either salmonella/listeria can be fatal to pregnant women and/or their unborn babies...

P.S. to be clear, I didn't realise you were supposed to avoid 'home made' ice cream. I knew about raw eggs in general!

If you had salmonella you'd know about it. Most restaurants would let you know if something contained raw eggs though!

I dont, but If you had some sort of food poisoning I would assume you'd be really feeling the effects by now.

Goto your doctor if really concerned for some peace of mind.

I think you'd know about it by now if you had salmonella or listeria. Don't worry :)

PS also, my mum makes icecream and doesn't put eggs in it. So it didn't necessarily have them in anyway.

I agree, If you had salmonella you would be feeling very very poorly by now so I would say that you are fine. It wouldn't just be like morning sickness, you would be glued to the toilet for a good while. If you do have diarrhoea you could ask your doctor to test a poo sample for you, but really, I think you don't need to worry about it.

I doubt a restaurant would use a ice-cream recipe with raw egg. It's too high a risk, unless they can source eggs that are guaranteed to be salmonella free.

I thought when ice cream was made, the egg and milk was cooked before it was frozen?

and "home made" in a restaurant is probably made from powdered egg

If you we're going to get ill from it, you'd know by now. The risk of salmonella to the baby is minimal anyway, so I really wouldn't worry

when i home-make ice cream the egg is cooked before its churned so its not raw

i ate out in a restaurant at the weekend (where all the ice-cream is home made) I specifically asked and they assured me that the egg they used was not raw!.

I assume you are in the uk, where almost all chickens are vaccinated against salmonella anyway, and agree with others, if you had salmonella posioning you would know!

Like nannyl I either make ice-cream with no eggs or I cook the yolks first like you do when you make custard.

I also cook the eggs when I make ice-cream to form the custard that the recipe needs.

I agree - eggs are usually cooked to make ice cream (you make a custard first).

Like everyone else has said, you'd certainly know by now if you had salmonella.

If it makes you feel any better, I shoved copious amounts of garlic aioli down me when 17wks pregnant in a spanish restuarant. I just assumed it was from a jar or something. After stuffing my face, our lovely spanish friends said that the garlic aioli is so scrummy because its made totally fresh using fresh eggs. Great!
They also then told me that the yummy fish I was dipping in said aioli was a type of shark. Double great!!

Please don't worry - the ice cream was probably made with a cooked egg custard. The restaurant wouldn't want to risk it's reputation by risking food poisoning by serving raw eggs - as well as pregnant women the elderly and small children also need to steer clear. I imagine the UK isn't the only country which vaccinates it's chickens against salmonella (the lion mark) so it's possible the eggs you eat are safe anyway.

Don't panic - most of us eat 'forbidden' things without realising during pregnancy and most of us and babies are fine. Any serious poisoning of any kind - you'd know.

PS Egg custard is ice cream is usually cooked. But don't really delicious chocolate mousse or mayo - they do have uncooked egg...

Hi - thanks for all the responses! I feel a bit better now. icravecheese - I would have done the same with the aioli, so v reassuring to know you were fine! Apparently salmonella has a gestation period of anything between 8-72 hours (so yes, it's been 24 so I should be feeling ill by now) and listeria anything up to 90 days (!) so I can't really waste the energy worrying for three more months...

I don't know what pregnancy is doing to me - I was proud of my 'stomach of steel' before, and now I'm terrified of ingesting the wrong thing!

The reason I'm so concerned is there is a very different attitude here to food safety in pregnancy than in the UK - when I ask about things like pasteurisation of dairy products in supermarkets/restaurants I get blank looks, and when I explain why they usually say "oh, I never worried about that kind of thing when I was pregnant" or they have no awareness of the guidelines at all (I've repeatedly been offered pregnancy non-safe products in health food shops and pharmacies too).

Anyway...as you sensible ladies have all said - chances are it'll be fine! Thanks for indulging my neuroticism!!

I really wouldn't worry. I also agree that if you were going to be ill you would be by now.

When I was about 12 weeks pregnant I got food poisoning. Was just after my morning sickness had stopped so at first I thought it was that but this was rather worse. When DH got it as well we knew it wasn't morning sickness returning .

I did worry and called NHS Direct (was naturally a Bank Holiday) but was told that the baby would be fine (he was, and will be 8 in November) and it was only if I really couldn't keep any water down that I should worry.