Query about 'safe' pregnancy cheeses....

[M2T]

Rrrrrright... I'm hate all this hysteria about avoiding certain foods in pregnancy, but still find myself doing it!!!

So, can someone please tell me if it is okay for me to eat:

Fresh Mozzarella and
Ricotta

I love cheese and I love fresh mozzarella cooked or just sliced on a sandwich with salad.... tell me this is allowed!??

It was the Mr Whippy stuff that she said wasn't safe. Can't remember why. Didn't know about smoked salmon. I have to say, first pregnancy spent in blissful ignorance, diet consisting almost entirely of banned foods - runny eggs, chicken livers, salami, cheeses which must have been made with unpasteurised milk, ice cream. Second preg slightly more nervous, but what was I supposed to do? Live on pork chops and wax beans or starve? All the local women seemed OK (but must say I did choose not to give birth there. Delivery room looked like a torture chamber, they'd never heard of an epidural and baby was swaddled and taken away from you immediately - but in my case with DD1 that would have been a blessing!!)

yea sorry processed cheese like primula and my favourite dairylea are Ok I did mean all soft mould ripened cheeses. The Food Standards Agency website is a good place to look for the current "banned" list. I was also told not to eat peanuts in case the baby develops an allergy. Being vegetarian I have always eaten nuts as a source of protein and am going to continue to do so. I think you have got to take a step back and remember these foods pose a tiny risk and think about women in countries who eat them all the time.

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Is blue cheese safe in pg if it is cooked?

Dunno about that Metrobaby. In theory it should be okay as the heat would kill the bacteria?

Secur - You may have a point, but with nuts it's not really to do with how exposed you have been to them. It doesn't mean that your child is any less likely to develop an allergy to them. With the allergy thing it's just a case of not knowing enough about it yet to define the actual dangers.
And with liver products is to do with the level of Vit A in them which are toxic to the foetus whether you eat all the time or not.

However, the thing with cheeses, raw egg etc I think you have a very good point. And its definitely about personally weighing up the risks and the likelyhood of you contracting listeria food poisoning if you eat blue cheese every day anyway. Whats the odds of suddenly contracting it now you are pregnant.

Wouldn't it be much easier if there was a universal DO's and DON'Ts list????

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As part of my job I often organise surveillances were we look or Listeria in all kinds of ready to eat foods. I have never found it on a unpasteurised cheese but routinely find it on sandwiches, cooked meats, ready meals etc. Any time I have found it it's always been in very low numbers not enough to cause food poisoning.

Oh and while I was munching on a few pistachios yesterday I had several people turn round and say "You should not be eating them now" The FSA currently only suggest avoiding peanuts and other nuts if you have a family history of allergies on any side!

Thats really quite interesting Sweetkitty! I suppose that in unpasteurised cheeses and such there are very strict health and safety measures to reduce the chances of listeria infection, nut with other supposedly low risk foods the criteria probably isn't as stringent??

I have a mild intolerance to peanuts and almonds according to blood test results. So when I found out I was pregnant I have avoided those. I had no idea it was ALL nuts!!

I have an allergy to tomatoes which causes urtecaria and effects my asthma. I take antihistamines all year round as it is extremely hard to avoid tomatoes! You'd be surprised as to how many things have tomato puree in them!! Anyway.... what I'm getting at is that if you avoid nuts if there is a history of allergy to them, does this apply to all foods? Am I increasing the risk of my baby also having this allergy??? Or is that another allergy mystery yet to be solved?

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Secur - I have been told by a few medical type people that if you have a tendency to develop allergies then your children are more likely to have them too. Perhaps not to the same things..... but certainly be at a higher risk. For example, asthma and excema. And Hay Fever.

Secur - Your family sounds a bit like mine! My youngest brother is 12.

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