Ham - what can you eat?

[Madallie]

I am 16 weeks pg with dc 2 and keep seeing/ hearing that you can't eat ham when pg! I know you can't eat uncooked meats/ ham like Parma ham or Serrano but it seems they mean all ham. Is this true or am I mistaken/ getting confused. I keep reading that you can't eat cured ham but all the supermarket packet ham seems to say it is cured then cooked.

I know this is quite a small and trivial discussion, I just really want to know...so I can have a ham sandwich!

I hope so, I've had plenty!

Ham is fine! And I've been eating Parma ham and the like, but on pizza so it gets cooked.

normal ham is fine. Just not the raw stuff
so if it's the standard stuff your granny would make a sandwich with you can eat it.

I was under the impression that if it's cooked then it's good. Regardless of that, I have enjoyed cooked ham from a packet in sandwiches throughout pregnancy. It's tasty.

parma ham is ok according to nhs:

www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/foods-to-avoid-pregnant.aspx#cured

pre-packed ham is also totally fine. nhs says:

Pre-packed meats like ham and corned beef are safe to eat in pregnancy. Some other sites (maybe from other countries such as the USA) may suggest that you avoid pre-packed meats in pregnancy but here in the UK we do not.

I've had loads, the NHS website says all ham including cured is ok as far as they are concerned as the risk is so small.
My MW said if the NHS says its ok its probably ok, although she did go on to tell me not to have too many carrots as they have high levels of vitamin A in.

Thank you all, I don't know where I got my info from. I thought it sounded odd. Maybe it's my pregnancy brain. Off for my ham sandwich now!

The confusion could be that some info says to avoid deli counter ham as it has been sitting out and therefore higher risk of listeria.

The pre-packed stuff should be fine as its all sealed up in a controlled environment.

I am sure that carrots have a different (and safer) form of Vitamin A so are fine to have in any quantity

Ilovepowerhoop- I'm sure they are too, I've never heard it from anywhere/anyone else.

Americans tend to advise against eating anything besides dried pasta. Seriously though, most likely you read not to eat ham from an American site or similar!

I've always eaten regular ham and parma ham too - I did my research and was happy with the risks versus benefits. I'm less happy about eating non-prepacked stuff though.

I ate normal ham but made sure it was fresh from the deli or a new pack opened and tried not to eat any that was opened/bought for more than a day.

Oh fgs, eat what you want. Seriously, you are not going to come to any harm via a few slices of Parma ham.

Your risk of food poisoning/listeria does not increase when pregnant. How many times pre-pregnancy did deli meats and soft cheese make you ill?

While I agree with "eat what you like", your risk of becoming ill with food poisoning does increase in pregnancy because your immune system is affected. The risks are still tiny though and it's not really about specific types of food but how they've been kept that (in my view) is important.

I spoke to my midwife about this last week as I was confused. She said stuff like salami etc is "OK" but not to go mad and eat loads of it. I think essentially there is a very small risk attached to cured (i.e. uncooked) meat and smoked fish, so if you eat it infrequently it's nothing to worry about. On the other hand if you're eating it on a daily basis you might want to think about cutting down.

The risk with most of these things is mostly to do with listeria, which would not normally make you ill, but it is potentially fatal to a foetus if it crosses the placenta into the amniotic fluid. So it might kill your unborn baby whilst you continue to feel perfectly OK.