calling all Brie-eating pregnant women

[Bibulus]

I just lost it and ate nearly a whole wedge. am 35wks

Tell me everything will be ok!!!

It was pasteurised but that probably doesn't make any difference does it?

once the first morsel was past my lips I just couldn't stop

you will be fine! if its pastuerised then all the possible nastys have been zapped :) i didnt know you could get pasteurised brie!!!!!! i will be looking in sainsburys on wed, i miss my cheese... :(

You will be fine!
The entire French race would have been eradicated by now if not...
But then I am a sushi-addicted pregnant woman...

I have eaten unpasteurised Brie everyday so far in a Brie and cranberry sandwich for lunch, I go through 3 packets a week! I also ate it with my DS, I eat pretty much everything I normally do apart from drinking alcohol. In France women are never advised to stop eating any kind of cheese.

You'll be grand. I bet it was deelish!

The 'Oh god I ate cheese....what I have I done?!' posts do my nut in. It's all a load of nanny-state guff.

I spent my entire pregnancy craving and eating bloody steak, runny eggs, sushi and cheese......and the occasional wee glass of vino. Shocking aren't I?!

Sushi in the uk is fine as its all been frozen which kills everything off. Says on the nhs site (can't link on phone)

Oooh! I just broke and dug in to the camembert sitting ripening on the side. I think they do use pasturised milk for commercial cheeses like President etc.

My Doc said its usually artisan producers that use unpasteurised milk. Any cheese makers help us out here? Please tell us what we want to hear!!!

Brie isn't discouraged because it's made with unpasteurised milk. (it's extremely rare to find cheeses made with unpasteurised milk btw.)

the issue is that Brie is mould-ripened, and that means it might have developed listeria during the ripening process

same with goats cheese, Camembert, etc

I'm with you! I've never had listeria in the last 35 years...seems pretty unlikely I'll catch it!

I think if I caught listeria from cheese sold in a major supermarket it'd be on Reporting Scotland!!

I have broken every 'pregnancy rule' except smoking!

oikopolis, thats great thanks for clarifying. Is it ok if I cut the rind off? begs

thank god for you lot

i couldn't resist brie either. i did try to but sometimes you've just got to give in!

It is ABSOLUTELY your decision what you eat and don't eat. But the argument that you've never had it before is not a good one. You have an adult, fully-developed immune system, and while you are not pregnant, you are highly unlikely to be affected by listeriosis. But your immune system is weakened by pregnancy, and you therefore have a higher risk of infection. You may not have any symptoms even if you are infected, whereas the foetus, with an immature immune system, may still be affected. I'm not saying this to be a scare mongerer - listeriosis is extremely rare (152 cases in the UK in 2010, 19 of whom were pregnant women according to NHS figures), and of course you should make whatever decision feels right and proportionate to you. But do check the facts before posting in case you affect someone else's decision!

What?! Sound of me jumping in the car and zooming down to Tesco for some much craved, wanted and desired Brie!

Seriously though, I picked up a pack in Sainsburys the other day to see if it was pasturised and it specifically said on the side something like 'best avoided by pregnant women' I was gutted.

Have been eating Feta though and imagine that's in the same category........

I eat cheese made with unpasteurised milk (but then, I'm French ). Listeriosis is extremely rare and almost never caused by unpasteurised cheese. In France at least, it is mainly caught from mayonnaise, pâtés, cold meats etc. that were not put back in the fridge and eaten one or two days later (yuck!)

Spice Feta is not a risk , as is pasteurised soft goat's cheese that is NOT in a mold casing (supermarkes sell it in a soft of log shape).

Thanks Pesto. Mmmmm Pesto and Brie.............

French women are told to avoid the same kind of cheeses/food we are....

Ahhh, you'll be fine. You enjoy your indulgence, at 35 wks you deserve it :)

I rather enjoyed this article: www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/may/29/health.medicineandhealth

I think a bit of healthy scepticism is always worthwhile. BTW, my midwife told me that pasteurised brie was absolutely fine, which is clearly nonsense. I think it's best generally to do your research and make up your own mind.

Queenofsiburbia sadly it's not the rind that's the problem... cutting it off won't cut the risk.

but really... eat it if you are craving it dreadfully! i gave in at 11 weeks, at a friend's house... was so disappointing though... she hadn't let it ripen enough so it was chalky!

afaik you're more likely to get listeria from a ready-made supermarket salad than you are to get it from cheese. and to prove my point here in Canada, a whole ton of ready-bagged salad leaves have just been recalled for listeria infection. it's all over the news.

you hardly ever hear of listeria being detected in meat, eggs or milk products really. the supply chain is so tightly controlled these days. i think there's less vigilance with veg etc because they perceive the risks as lower.

you do need to balance it up though... you are something like 20x more likely to have a listeria issue during pregnancy. because your immune system goes dormant-ish during pg, to prevent your body from detecting the baby as a foreign body iyswim.

so as someone else said, not having had listeria before really isn't the issue! it's the fact that your immunity is compromised in pg.

Eating runny/unpasteurised cheese is taking a risk as your immune system is less capable of fighting off any bugs that may be lurking. That said, it's unlikely.
Eating rare meat is a pretty stupid thing to do, as you'll know if you've ever met the devastated parents of an affected child. Google "congenital toxoplasmosis". Also thankfully rare but too big a risk to take for me as much as I love rare steak and pink lamb. And yes, the French are told the same thing. But there's always someone who knows best isn't there...