Don't tell me we can't eat Smoked Salmon

[lubella]

I have just picked up on this from reading the board..one more of my favorite foods off limits. What on earth does it carry to harm PG women??!!!!? (angry)

Hey there. I LOVE smoked salmon too and am annoyed! All I know is that it's cured, which also counts out parma ham and similarly not really cooked things. Argh!!!

My sympathies!!! M 16+5

I always thought it was ok and practically lived on the stuff smothered in lemon juice through all 3 of my pregnancies!!

Interesting Z.....maybe worth a sneaky go!!!!!!!

Have a look at this - it's the Food Standards Agency's advice for pregnant women. It says that some countries recommend that you avoid smoked salmon because of the risk of listeria, but in the UK it's considered OK because the risk is very low.

I lived on black coffee, brie and pate during my first pg............then someone told me I shouldn't have !

Food standards agency says salmon and cured meats are okay

www.eatwell.gov.uk/asksam/agesandstages/pregnancy/#A219904

WWB beat me to it!!

The Food Standards Agency and NHS don't actually advise against smoked salmon, because the 'risk is low', but say that you may wish to avoid it.

The risk is from listeria, because it is moist (so listeria can breed) and not cooked (so the germs are not killed). Listeria's one of the few bugs that can cross the placenta (toxoplasmosis is one of the others, hence why raw meat and parma ham are off limits). I don't think it's something that salmon has innately, just something it might have picked up from poor hygiene.

But the reason that they don't advise against pregnant women eating raw meat in Italy, is that Italian women have been eating cured meats since they were in the cradle, and so are very likely to be immune to toxoplasmosis (once you've had it once, it can't harm the baby). Here in the UK, where every bit of meat has been cooked until it's grey and flabby, far fewer people are immune, so they think it's worth advising people that there is a risk, even if a very low one.

I always find it interesting with the toxoplasmosis I don't see any advice to get rid of your cat (just take precautions.........)

I had a look into this (as you might have guessed from the name) and toxoplasmosis only develops in cat faeces after either 24 or 48 hours.

So, ironically, I'm at far less risk from the litter tray at home than I am from my lovely organic vegetables from our allotment, which has a resident cat which thinks that my soil is his bathroom.

Thanks so much guys - a little more understood now - it seems to be the bacteria that can live on cured meats / fish which may have more to do with freshness that the food itself.

Still it only seems to be the food I am craving that is advised to avoid; liver, blue cheese. tuna, sushi, rare steak, seafood...hey ho will be worth it in the end I suppose

ooops, i ate it thinking i would be making DS brainy

I feel the same - I want the everything I can't have. DH has become "The Tuna Police" ensuring I only have my 1-2 cans per week, but I could eat it every night!

I am just desperate for peanuts, esp the new Chunky Kitkat Peanut Butter.....hmmmmm. I know people who have eaten them, but with DH's asthma and excema in the family, I know it's sensible to avoid.

Just making the most of things I am allowed!

I've always eaten both tuna and liver while pg. They don't have the risk of containing things to which one exposure can make you ill, but rather contain things that you shouldn't have too much of. So IMO liver once or twice a month, likewise tuna, isn't going to be a disaster.

Also seafood is fine as long as you can be confident of the source. So it makes sense to avoid a sandwich filling that's been sitting in a bowl on a counter all day, but a nicely-cooked lobster in a fishing town (ie was probably caught that same day) is fine.

hmmmm, I've eaten everything mentioned on this thread. Oops - delicious though!

NO one should eat any smoked salmon other than wild salmon (so if it does not expressly say 'wild' then it isn't: that includes organic etc).

It is the next mad cow disease candidate

here

and here

farmed salmon is devastating to the environment and extremely dangerous to eat. most salmon in supermarkets (the vast majority) is farmed.

hmmmm, I've eaten everything mentioned on this thread. Oops - delicious though!

hmmmm, I've eaten everything mentioned on this thread. Oops - delicious though!

At my early pregnancy class the dietician said that smoked salmon was fine as long as it had been frozen first. This is because it may contain some kind of worm which is killed by the freezing process. The same goes for sushi.

Ew!

What about for DS(10 months)? MIL gave him some at a party the other week and he loved it! Now I'm v worried. She would only have bought it from Asda or Sainsburys - she wouldn't have been able to afford anything else.