is baked camembert safe in pregnancy?

[bemybebe]

that is it.
i love everything that is not allowed in pregnancy - various cured meats like parma ham, pates, soft unpast cheeses, shellfish, steak tartare... the list goes on.

however, someone just mentioned to me that rimmed soft cheeses are ok as long as they are baked - is it true?

i have complicated pregnancies, so i do not want to take any risks, but if there is none provided proper precautions are taken i am fine. my obgyn is rather easy-going with foods...

Well, I ate it, but I think the official position is that the whole cheese does not get hot enough when baked to kill everything that might be lurking. So if you are high risk, perhaps avoid?

I have eaten it but perhaps reading Peppa's post I shouldn't have done...

shell fish damn had prawns the other night going to worry now :(

I agree every damned thing I like seems to be on the banned list. Dreading Christmas especially as I don't want anyone to know I'm pregnant yet and they will notice if I'm not eating nearly all my favourite foods.

I thought (cooked) prawns and cooked shellfish were ok?

faint don't worry about the prawns, they should have been cooked well. I was thinking more like oysters

x-post... sorry, to clarify, cooked shellfish is fine, but those which are not cooked (oysters) or served or have been in contact with uncooked (like on a platter) are not...

i went to bibendum oyster bar in london recently and they had to serve my prawns without other items they had on seafood platter... damn

Prawns are fine. (cooked obv)

Baked camembert as long as its cooked and not just heated up is also fine as far as I know.

I think baked camembert isn't recommended because it doesn't get hot enough. If you do cook it enough it goes all weird.

It's to do with the milk. Check the label and if it's made with pasteurised milk then it's ok. Same for Brie.

I think it might be Tesco that does a pasteurised Camembert or Brie or both. I found they did a pasteurised Welsh Goats Cheese

Not sure about the baking bit but I thought that in soft cheeses if it's pasteurised its ok. MW recommended trying the big supermarkets.

so, do i understand correctly that despite having soft rim, all cheeses are ok as long as they are from pasteurised milk? that is great.

I thought the NHS guidance was that soft cheese, even if pasturised, should be avoided? I'll try to find it and check...

Yes, annoyingly not ok even if pasteurised - NHS guidance here

My Midwife said as long as its heated so it's bubbles that is fine. Same with Palma ham salami etc so can have these On pizza etc

ok, i think it is fairly clear that camembert is on hold until july

no problem, only 6 months to go...

oops been eating soft but pasteurised cheeses throughout my pregnancy hope baby is ok

So did I, pixie, until someone told me when I was about 20 weeks! It'll be fine.

No, it's shouldn't have to be on hold.

Just cook the bloody stuff properly...

www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/cooked-brie-and-blue-cheese-during-pregnancy.aspx?CategoryID=54&SubCategoryID=216

I just checked a packet in the fridge - sainsbury's baked camembert has a "not suitable for pregnant women" label.

I got all excited then thinking I could have camembert after all. Bugger.

(Another one who's finding that all her fave foods are on the 'banned' list).

Its also mould ripened soft cheese before someone starts stressing about philli. But my understanding is no to pasteurised also. You can have some non-pasteurised like parmesan as it is v hard and the bacteria dont like it.

The nhs page linked to above states that Stilton is okay, even uncooked. Hurray!

This pasteurised/non pasteurised thing is a bit of a red herring.

If it's a 'wet' product, eg milk, yogurt, soft cheese then it needs to be pasteurised.

If it's dry, so most types of hard cheese, it does not need to be pasteurised. The bacteria associated with non-pasteurisation need a moist environment in order for it to survive.

Now, the risk with mould ripened cheese is that it provides a good breading ground for the listeria bacteria, and this is regardless of whether the cheese is made from pasteurised milk or not. So, as other people have pointed out, pasteurised brie still shouldn't be eaten uncooked.

However, cooking a mould-ripened or soft blue cheese thoroughly (e.g so it steams and bubbles) will kill the listeria bacteria. It would also kill any bugs associated with non-pasteurisation for that matter.

Saying that this cheese when baked still isn't recommended for pregnant women in case it isn't cooked properly is treating pregnant women like idiots.

Does being pregnant suddenly stop you from being able to cook food properly? Does this mean that you should stop eating chicken, bacon, sausages etc? After all, plenty of food can be harmful if not cooked well. No?...well of course not

I've been eating brie, cooked and uncooked over the last couple of days .

tricky so can one bake mould ripened cheese so that it is safe (sorry, i am playing daft because i want to get it right )...