Unpasteurised Lemonade

[sarah00001]

Hi, the other night I bought a bottle of Tesco Finest still lemonade with freshly squeezed lemons. I drank a glass and then looked at the bottle and it said that it was made with unpasteurised lemon juice. I then googled unpasteurised fruit juice in pregnancy and apparently it carries the risk of salmonella, e-coli or toxoplasmosis. I emailed Tommy's midwives to see if this was correct and they said that it was. My main concern is toxoplasmosis. Do you think I should be worried?

Thanks, Sarah

I don't think you should be worried, let me tell you why. The risk of toxoplasmosis is from the soil not the lemon - lemon juice is made from the inside of the lemon (unlike say a berry that would be blended whole). And lemon is a tree fruit not like an onion that grows in the soil. So even if Tescos didn't wash the lemons (and I would be pretty sure they did, having worked in food processing factories standards are pretty high) there is very little chance that any soil would get into the product. I'm not sure how the e-coli or salmonella are getting in there, but again maybe a contamination in the manufacturing process is possible. But then again that is possible in ANYTHING that you haven't made yourself, and a big company like Tesco would have a lot in place to safeguard against that. Also unlike toxo e-coli and salmonella are symptomatic in the general population, so there would be a huge scandal if their lemonade were contaminated in this way. I've never heard of an ecoli or salmonella outbreak being linked to a fruit juice. And I am obsessive about food poisoning, believe me I have googled it all! I would say that the advice probably relates to stopping at one of those juice stalls where they freshly blend the fruit whole for you? Even then I imagine it's a low risk.

Hi Worrywurta thank you so much for your reply. I feel more reassured now especially with you having worked in a food processing factory. xx

And in the nicest possible terms - step away from Google. You'll worry yourself inside out (especially with pregnancy hormones!!). Trust me

Oh gosh I have just linked your two posts - you sound so much like me at 25 weeks. Iklboo is quite right, step away from Google, do the NHS list and the NHS list ONLY. There is a lot of advice from other countries that (I have slowly come to realise) is frankly bonkers. I think pregnant Americans and New Zealanders particularly must live on crackers and boiled water for 9 months!

I drank loads of that when first pregnant, didn't even realise I shouldn't have, oops,but at 14 weeks doesn't seem to be affected!

Hang on! Is this a thing in the UK? I thought fresh juice would be healthy and have drunk loads.

I just had a quick look on NHS and couldn't see anything

I have to say my food and drink options are becoming ever more limited.....