Anyone else ignoring the avoid runny eggs thing?

[yellowflowers]

It's my main craving, soft boiled eggs and fried eggs.

Yes, so then take those cases of listeria and work out what proportion of the population are pregnant and how many pregnant women that would equate to if ALL pregnant women ate everything that might cause listeria (which, as has already been pointed out, is largely not thing pregnant women are advised to avoid anyway -the only person I know who had it caught it from hummous). Then work out based on research on listeria infections what proportion of those infected pregnant women would suffer which complications (an inconvenient illness, a real damaging effect of the baby, a premature birth, a stillbirth).

Then compare those numbers with the number of pregnancies each year.

Even if you ate EVERY single thing that you're advised to avoid because of listeria risk, the risk of serious damage to the baby or stillbirth is really tiny. Add on top of that the fact that lots of listeria cases are caused by things pregnant women are not advised to avoid, and suddenly the risk of eating a runny egg yolk really doesn't seem (to me) worth worrying about now that they're vaccinated against salmonella, which used to be the biggest risk.

Btw I can't be bothered to crunch the actual numbers.

Oh, and by the way Norma, I've already spent 163 weeks of my life pregnant .

Salmonella is the risk from eggs surely? Thought listeria was more cheese and dairy

Youlllaugh I always loved the scaremongering in the 'what to expect book' I had about eating 'orange' food [hhm]. At the time I read it I was vomiting and nauseous so much I was having trouble keeping down plain carbs. Just the thought of roasting a squash made me heave!

Pesto - my copy actually went into the recycling after reading that chapter. I couldn't bear the thought of someone actually buying it if I gave it to a charity shop...

I'm eating dippy eggs with marmite soldiers. They're delicious (and lion marked). From what I've read, apparently the last large outbreak of listeria was caused by watermelon which is not on the 'banned' list.

Basically I'm avoiding known toxins - I.e liver and liver based pâté, predatory fish, alcohol in amounts larger than one or two glasses of wine per week. I think it says a lot that there are such differing opinions on the subject from country to country.

I was pleased to see that the NHS is now saying you're allowed rare beef and lamb now though, I can wave the piece of paper under DH's nose when he pulls a face at me in restaurants for ordering rare steak.

Yes. I have pretty much ignored every food 'rule' I've read. I haven't caught anything from my food in 35 years...probably unlikely to start now. I have eaten numerous soft eggs, pâté, soft cheese, rare steak, deli meat, etc. The only thing I have avoided is unpasturised dairy.

To make myself feel better about the fried egg sandwiches I've consumed, I've made sure they're really fresh, lion marked eggs, fried gently for long enough for the white to be totally cooked, then flipped over for an over-easy finish. Figure the yolk gets mostly cooked through then but still slightly running & soft. Other than that, I'm eating what I feel like eating!! :)

I have 2 poached egg for breakfast every morning runny. I have to have eggs every day. Always lion marked and good quality

I dreamt my husband fed me a stilton and Brie sandwich last night, I woke up in a bad mood, how dare he try to poison me but also I really miss my nice cheeses :( I'm bored of cheddar!

lol, good for you

You can have stilton Eggs according to the latest NHS guidance. There are PLENTY of cheeses you can eat, just not the mould-ripened soft cheeses. :)

Only white stilton Chunky. The NHS website actually contradicts itself in 2 places . Most people think of stilton as the blue-veined one, but last time I looked I'm pretty sure it says that type is still rled out (though not in the same place as it uses stilton as an example of a cheese that's OK to eat ).

i ignored quite a few of the "rules" abotu what to eat and not to eat. i did the major ones, no smoking (i actually quit with my first preg and never started again so that was easier) i don't drink hot drinks so i didn't have an tea or coffee with lots of caffine and i didnt really have any fizzy drinks like coke with caffine in either. i've made sure all meat is probably cooked and not eaten deli meats like salami (although i've had ham and apparently ham should be avoided too!) i haven't had soft boiled eggs but i've had a few fried eggs with runny yolks. i just made sure that all the white was cooked and the yolk was hot. i didn't have alcohol....actually that's a lie i did have one drink, once throughout the whole thing but it was a lovely sunny day and everyone else had nice cold beers and ciders so i had a half pint of cider and was also 35 weeks so i'm sure the one wouldn't have hurt. i haven't had any shellfish etc but i don't like it anyway but i'm sure breaking the egg rule isn't one to beat yourself up about. after all what did our parents and parents parents do?

So have we decided it's probably safest for me to stay in my house, avoiding all crossings and car accidents, and just eat some fried egg sandwiches? After all, I'm veggie and anaemic so I probably need them!

I'd also love to know statistics of what the breakdown is of causes of premature birth and stillbirth. I believed most were to do with placenta issues and the like.