Pate.

[BeyondLimitsOfTheLivingDead]

I need pate.
I know its not allowed and I know its cause of the Retinol.

Is there an expert around that could confirm if I could have one little portion? Is there a safe level, that so long as I only had one portion I would be under?

The craving will go then and I will happily go about the rest of my life [hgrin]

Will a non-liver-based pate do the job? I know the hardcore will tell you to avoid all pate because of the listeria risk, but you can minimise that.....for instance I've happily eaten Rillettes from jars because it doesn't contain liver, and as far as I'm aware if it has been in a sterile jar for months the listeria risk is minimal.

I have no idea how much liver pate would be okay but hopefully someone else will come along with an idea.

I've eaten pate during my pregnancy - I believe one portion is not going to do any harm - eating it all day everyday likely will!

IMO - the supermarket tubs which are about 70-80p will probably satisfy your craving and would not be bad at all. It's the homemade/posh varieties that will be the worse.

Failing that cheap old meat paste will be OK!

I would imagine one portion would be ok. Your body wants what your body wants afterall.

Could you ring your GP ??

I'm not one to be paranoid, I'm happy to drink a little, eat shellfish etc etc.
But pate seems such a "you must not have this under any circumstances" that I feel I should check.

It has to be liver pate btw. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Consuming 100g of liver per day would be dangerous wrt high levels of retinol. A serving of pate now and again shouldn't be anything to worry about.

Of course there's the separate risk of listeria, but it's very very small.

I was thinking the same thing the other day, but was also wondering if cooking it made any difference? Will it kill off any listeria? I had a craving for mushrooms stuffed with pate, coated in breadcrumbs and deep fried - soooo bad for me but droooooool! [hgrin]

I am literally salivating Davina [hgrin]

There are those small tins with a kind of spreadable pate, surely they must be pasteurised as they are not in the cooled section? Would that help at all?

You need vitamin A, it's a complete myth that you don't.

You would need to eat kilos upon kilos upon kilos to have an adverse affect.

Google what,vitamin a is used for in the body and then decide whether a southern of pate is bad.

Yes, I've eaten it both pregnancies.

Southern = slither

as far as listeria is concerned Google the stats of cases in the last 10 years (and that includes non pregnant people too) - your chance of getting it is miniscule!

My doctor said that the one with the risk of listeria is the one that is kept in the cooled section, but the canned ones or the ones in jars that are kept on the regular supermarket shelves, are absolute fine to eat. Anyway, they are not the healthiest thing ever (tons of fat).
On another note, heat kills listeria, so if you use it as an ingredient in a cooked dish (like the delicious deep fried mushrooms mentioned earlier, stuffed pasta or a lentil soup) it is fine.
I do not know anything about the risk of retinol excess from pate, though. You might want to get more detail from your GP about that. However, I would imagine it might be a question of the combination of your total vitamin A intake (prenatal vitamins plus the food that you eat). Maybe you should not eat carrots the day you eat pate...?
You can make your own chicken liver pate at home, I've done it. You need butter, chicken livers, tons of onions, herbs, red wine and cognac. It is not hard to make, really. As long as you cook it well and eat within two or three days it is ok. If you can get hold of organic chicken liver, even better. Livers are the toxin processors, so the less toxins the chicken ate, the better.

Just do it! I just can't be dealing with the health and safety crap. I think just as long as you don't go bananas it's fine. The chances of listeria are stupidly small if you go for supermarket stuff.

Pate was the thing I missed and I think I did lapse once or twice. I don't like any of the forbidden cheeses and I refused to give up prawns or runny scrambled eggs.
My worst crime was unpasturised milk, I got woken each morning of my holiday by the milking machine so I was jolly well going to drink it. There was no pasteurised milk on St Agnes isles of Scilly only UHT.
Neither DD seems any the worse