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Original poster

Am I allowed to eat....

49 replies

blushingmare · 09/02/2012 20:00

Shop bought egg custard tarts? Based on the assumption that we can't have raw egg, which I know some people don't necessarily agree with anymore. I would have thought shop bought ones don't have raw or partially cooked egg would they?

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AlpinePony · 09/02/2012 20:02

What? Egg tarts are cooked and anyway you are allowed raw eggs. Who told you this?

PickleSarnie · 09/02/2012 20:06

You could swallow eggs raw if you wanted. So long as they are lion stamped and within date.

Joygirl78 · 09/02/2012 20:07

As long as it's fresh, it's fine

MandaHugNKiss · 09/02/2012 20:26

And, remember, with things that are considered risky (custard tarts not being one of them, happily for you!) it's not that we're not allowed it's just guidance and advice.

You're allowed to eat whatever you see fit Grin

keely027 · 10/02/2012 10:29

you cant have raw egg. your not even allowed haag daaz icecream. you can have complelety cooked egg.

Flisspaps · 10/02/2012 10:41

keely027 You CAN have raw egg.

You can have Haagen Dazs ice cream too. Who on earth spun you that line?!

You are advised that it may not be wise to eat raw eggs that are not lion marked. Eggs carrying the lion mark are salmonella free.

The ice cream you are advised against eating is the Mr Whippy sort of stuff (the swirly stuff out of the van) - it's not kept cold enough to keep bacteria at bay (is my understanding) so that it's still soft enough to squirt through the nozzle.

There is nothing in pregnancy that you can't eat.

The guidance isn't a rule, and it can change. When I was pregnant with DD I spend the first few months being advised not to eat peanuts in case the baby developed an allergy to them, and then the last few months being told it was OK to eat peanuts but it wasn't advised if there was a history of peanut allergy in the family.

TimothyClaypoleLover · 10/02/2012 10:46

Following on from peanut thing, a friend of mine has just been told that her DD aged 4 has a severe nut allergy which has been caused by not having any nuts and that she should have introduced nuts into her diet much earlier - which is the complete opposite to couple of years ago when pregnant women and small children were advised to avoid nuts at all cost!

I was fairly careful in first pregnancy but this time round I have been eating whatever I like. Its so annoying that the guidelines change so frequently. No wonder pregnant women and parents are confused.

Lovemarmite · 10/02/2012 10:53

I would err on the side of caution of any raw egg, rinded cheese Brie etc and other things that the NHS advise against:
www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/917.aspx?CategoryID=54&SubCategoryID=216

Shop bought egg custard tarts should be okay but would check the packaging in case there's a precaution on them. Helmans mayo has 'pasteurised egg' on it and my GP said this was fine.

Totally agree that it's confusing as the advice changes but I would still take caution and just go with what you feel is right too.

littlemissnormal · 10/02/2012 12:28

My MW has told me re Brie and soft cheese that in France they don't tell you not to eat it, and that the chances of getting listeria are really low.
She advised against eating soft eggs from my own chickens but said ones with the lion stamp, as others have said, are fine.

MrsLister · 10/02/2012 13:06

Mockcroc - I love that article. Hysteria around what we can/can't eat when pregnant is ridiculous.

MockCroc · 10/02/2012 16:00

Yes, I have to say I found it one of the most amusing and liberating things I've read for a long time. I HATE the constant implication that there are "rules" pg women must follow. It's as though your IQ and ability to weigh evidence and assess risks fly out of the window at the moment of conception!

AlpinePony · 10/02/2012 16:09

But what about all the hundreds of thousands of people killed by jarred Hellman's?

MockCroc · 10/02/2012 16:15
Grin
MandaHugNKiss · 10/02/2012 16:22

I nearly killed someone with a jar of Hellmans. Of course, I was throwing it and not smearing it on a bloomer...

JennyPiccolo · 10/02/2012 16:24

I would eat it, but im a greedy pig.

StarlightDicKenzie · 10/02/2012 16:29

I'm 24 weeks pg and you've made me NEED a custard tart which my DH is bringing back with him from work- yay.

The only thing I avoid in pg is obviously badly stored food and too much consumption of anything, particularly pate. This is dc no. 3

Zanzicat · 10/02/2012 16:31

I think it's very easy to mock when people post questions like these but all the OP was doing was seeking reassurance. In my normal life I am very rational and have an extremely responsible job guiding people through one of the most traumatic experiences of their life. With respect to my pregnancy however I worry and analyse to the nth degree, made worse by having had a MMC previously.

OP, custard tarts are baked in any event so fine to eat. Generally you must do what you feel comfortable with whether that's following none of the guidance or all of it and don't let anyone else judge whichever decision you make.

buonasera · 10/02/2012 17:16

Zanzi, I agree - although I think the frustration everyone's venting on here is towards stupid newspaper articles/constantly changing NHS advice that is always presented as gospel.

I had 3 MCs due to a chromosomal abnormality and my take on it is that everyone wants to do all they can to avoid being that 1 in 4 or 1 in 5 pregnancies that ends in miscarriage - but since most of them are down to one-off or inherited chromosomal abnormalities, bascially it's all effort that goes into changing the risk from about 20% to about 19.5%. Not to say it's not useful, I mean we'd do anything to get it to work, right?

What really drives me up the wall is when people (e.g. occupational health nurses at work, midwife etc) go to the other extreme and dismiss every concern as being to do with anxiety. I used to work in a lab with some pretty nasty chamicals including experimental chemo and all sorts, and when I asked occ health about exposure levels and stuff they were like "let's see if we can get you out of the lab to put your mind at rest." No - put me out of the lab if I need to stay out of the lab! And if it's safe, let me go in and work! I don't want to feel reassured, I want to be safe.

MockCroc · 10/02/2012 17:19

Hi Blushing. I don't think anyone meant this to read as though you were being mocked. The mocking was of the ridiculous hype that makes us all, normally sane and level headed women, completely paranoid that we are going to do something inadvertant to damage the most important thing to us. Have a read of the link I posted above. It's an article Zoe Williams wrote in the Guardian in 2007 when she was pregnant, having investigated the reasons behind lots of the "rules" we are given and whether the scientific studies back them up. I found it very reassuring when for moments when you wonder whether you have done something terrible by mistake... A better understanding of the reasons and the science behind the "rules" helps you make your own assessment of what you should and shouldn't eat (and drink) - because after all it is entirely personal! Good luck x

keely027 · 10/02/2012 17:33

Flisspaps: I got my information from doctors and midwifes, hagg daaz iceream contains raw egg. I quote from NHS website

"Eggs

Don?t eat raw or undercooked eggs and avoid foods that contain them, such as homemade mayonnaise.

Make sure that eggs are thoroughly cooked until the whites and yolks are solid. This prevents the risk of salmonella food poisoning. "

Check it out for yourself www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/917.aspx?CategoryID=54&SubCategoryID=130

keely027 · 10/02/2012 17:51

in addition from the haagen daaz website :Ingredients: Cream, Skim Milk, Cookie Dough (Flour, Sugar, Butter, Brown Sugar, Corn Oil, Water, Fructose, Corn Syrup Solids, Coconut Oil, Salt, Vanilla, Baking Soda), Sugar, Fudge Chips (Sugar, Coconut Oil, Cocoa Processed with Alkali, Cocoa, Butteroil, Soy Lecithin, Vanilla), Egg Yolks, Natural Vanilla.

MandaHugNKiss · 10/02/2012 17:57

But icecream is pasturised before being frozen... the only way it would possibly pose a risk is if it were to defrost and sit there breeding bacteria that had found its way into it and then be eaten or re-frozen (before eating).

Haagen Daz (and other store bought ice creams) that are stored correctly do not pose any risk. Well, to your waistline they do, but that's another matter entirely.

GP's and Midwives may not be as up to date on current information as you'd imagine. When at booking I challenged the midwife who told me I could only eat meat that was throughly cooked through (ugh, why do that to a decent steak?!) she could not explain why at all and waved her hands vaguely saying 'Oh, it's something about the blood'.

Needless to say, I still enjoy my steaks medium, on average once per week.

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