Can I eat Parmesan Cheese?

[Palmwoods]

Can I eat Parmasan cheese if its cooked in a Lasagne or in Carbonara?

Parmasan is a hard cheese so yes, no problems.

yes, parmesan's ok anyway isn't it?

you just need to avoid blue cheese and mould-ripened soft cheeses, e.g. brie, AFAIK

Be careful. Some parmesan is made with unpasteurised milk. But I think it says so on the label if this is the case.

I assume you are asking because you are pregnant, the answer is yes you can eat it either cooked or grated and sprinkled.

Aha, that's not true - (about it being a hard cheese and therefore OK). If you look on most packets of parmasen you'll see that they are unpasterised. I didn't realise this until couple of weeks ago. We have packet in fridge - standard brand - definitely unpasterised.

oops - I ate it through 2 pregnancies presuming it was a hard cheese and therefore OK

The one that I have is made from unpasturised milk, that's why I'm not sure - if I'm cooking it does it make it ok?

I think it's OK to eat unpasterised or blue veined/mould ripened cheese if cooked until piping hot as it would kill off any listeria. Not 100% sure though.

I would guess plenty of italian mums-to-be eat it frequently.

But then French women eat stuff like brie and pate while preggers, and I don't believe there is a much higher rate of m/cs or stillbirths than in the UK, are there?

It is safe to eat parmesan cheese in pregnancy even though it is unpasteurised as it is so hard and mature that no Listeria could ever survive or grow in it.

I read that even though its unpasterurised its ok because its a hard cheese and listeria can only survive/grow in a moist environment. I probably read it on mumsnet or maybe in this good website
pregnacnynutrition

Thank you! I'm using it - I agree Clumsymum, I would assume that most italian women would continue to eat it during pregnancy!

I reckon we're all paranoid and you'll be fine

Any hard cheese is fine - like sweetkitty says, listeria needs the moisture to survive (and blue cheeses and bries are not merely moist, they stand around for ages maturing, giving any potential listeria the chance to multiply as well).

only if pasteurised, so check he label

According to my midwife, Parmesan is fine. In fact she approved hard cheeses in general, whether pasteurised or not. She didn't approve non-pasteurised soft cheeses, mold-ripened cheeses or blue cheeses.

I craved Caesar salad in my pregnancies, and that's made with Parmesan, and I was fine.