cheese question - safe or not?

[jollyjellybean]

just wondered if Ilchester wensleydale cheese with apricots was safe to eat?

www.mysupermarket.co.uk/asda-compare-prices/cheese/ilchester_wensleydale_cheese_with_apricots_162g.html

it has no labels to say its pasteurised and have been told by supermarket that its not safe to eat as its soft but I thought as its a hard cheese and that only a few soft cheeses were excluded it would be safe to eat so am now very confused

its one of the few things Im actually craving but if I cant eat it then so be it!

www.wensleydale.co.uk/

I have been to the creamery and I believe all their cheese is pasturised (I also believe thats where asda get theirs from.. check it out/ email them yoursel though to make sure..

thanks so much peapod - that's really helpful

i would say that wensleydale counted as a hard cheese not a soft one.

www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/are-hard-cheeses-safe-to-eat-during-pregnancy.aspx?CategoryID=54&SubCategoryID=216

yes I would think the same - thanks ilovepowerhoop - not sure why the supermarket say it is a soft cheese and not considered safe?

www.ilchester.co.uk/contact.php - you could ask them if its pasteurised on here

good plan - will do that - this food lark is such a minefield - Im already on a severely restricted diet due to having gone of nearly every food I can think of and having gone off eating in general but ironically craving things I can't have like brie and ham and pate - that's life I guess!!

maybe they are thinking of blue wensleydale which would have mould through it.

www.britishcheese.com/cheese - this puts wensleydale into several categories and the one that refers to yours would be a blended cheese which says:

High quality hard cheeses are chopped into small pieces and herbs or fruit added and the whole mixed together before being shaped into cylinders or blocks. Most popular examples in the UK are Wensleydale with Cranberry, White Stilton with Apricots, Cheddar with Caramelised Onion, Double Gloucester with Chives and Onion and Lancashire with Garlic.

you could cook the brie and eat it, ham is fine but I would avoid pate

I am mega confused about cheese and over christmas ate a bit of lots of things, eek. Including parmesan, most of which, when I read the labels, I realised is un-pasteurised even though it's a hard cheese. So is that not the rule then? it has to be hard? (excuse the freudian slip)

parmesan is fine to eat as it is a hard cheese so little chance of listeria even if unpasteurised whereas you shouldnt eat soft cheese even if it is pasteurised

and if it is a soft cheese you can always cook it until it is piping hot and then it is safe to eat

For Brie, the President Brie is pasturised.. So I think that one is actually ok to eat...

That is if it's ok to eat soft cheeses as long as they are pasturised... I get so confused! Our midwife said it'd be ok..

None of it is 'rules'.

It's all guidelines, which you are free to follow or not follow as you wish

no, if it is soft you shouldnt eat it even if it says it is pasteurised as there could still be a listeria risk - you could cook and eat it though

I got pregnant in France, and the doctor I saw there said the key question was whether the cheese was pasteurized or not. Some French cheeses are hard but not pasteurized so shouldn't be eaten (like Comte) but a lot of soft cheeses are pasteurized and can be eaten. I noticed in the UK though that midwives tended to just say hard cheese ok, soft cheese bad.

It is only mould ripened and blue veined soft cheeses that it is suggested to avoid (regardless of whether it is pasteurised) - brie, camembert, roquefort, etc. Things like Philadelphia, ricotta, feta etc are fine. There is a Cheese page on the NHS website that lays it all out really clearly.

Here is the UK advice: www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/are-hard-cheeses-safe-to-eat-during-pregnancy.aspx

Close Bue - NHS guidance is no to mould ripened and blue veined soft cheeses (pasteurised or not) - eg Brie, Roquefort. No to unpasteurised soft cheeses. Yes to hard cheese (pasteurised or not) including hard blue veined cheeses like Stilton. Yes to pasteurised soft cheese (eg most Feta, mozzarella, cream cheese etc, esp of the kind you're likely find in supermarkets which are almost certainly pasteurised)