Has anyone eaten Parma ham / Serrano ham when pregnant

[EmsyW]

Hi there
Has anyone eaten Serrano or Parma ham when pregnant? Thinking more of the pre packed stuff you can get in Tesco rather than actual deli off the bone cuts
Xx

I did. As far as I'm aware the NHS stance is that it's not off limits.

I did. Loads. And chorizo and salami. It was the only thing I could stomach for a while..

Never had an issue. The chance of anything untoward is very small these days IMO. Besides, I'm sure they it all of it in Spain or Italy any way.

I'm Spanish and the official advice is not to eat jamón and chorizo during pregnancy, even though the midwife in our antenatal class says she had never in 20 years seen a case of toxoplasmosis in pregnancy that wasn't in people who worked very closely with animals.
The good news is all you need to do is freeze it for 48 hours, which works particularly well with the prepackaged sliced jamón /chorizo. Just bung the pack in the freezer and leave for 2 days before defrosting.

The risk with cured meats is parasites which can cause toxoplasmosis - the parasites can be killed off by freezing the meat (for 4 days I think) or cooking it.

I kept a stash of salami in the freezer once I found this info and was very happy!

Just checked the NHS website and it is indeed 4 days.

Thankyou for your advice ladies. Wasn’t sure if it was allowed and I did have a very small piece (half a slice) last weekend and have been craving more since but realised it’s not actually a cooked meat xx

@kikibo and @EnglandKeepMyBones - did you free your cured meats before you ate them? X

I went to Spain from 8-10 weeks pregnant and ate aaaaaaall the meats

Sorry, meant *freeze

Freeze it if you’re concerned.

I've eaten loads. I work in health and have only ever known 1 case toxoplasmosis in pg woman and they had quite specific risk factors tha don't apply to most women.

I draw the line at shellfish, pure honey and pate (pate even when not pg!) but I'll pretty much eat anything else with no concern.

No, I didn't. Although if you were worried it would be worth it. I kept away from honey and pate, and other things that have a higher risk. I wasn't overly lax, just didn't see cured meat as the biggest risk in the world. I made sure to always buy ore packaged stuff from reputable places, and never had any issues.

Honey isn’t a toxoplasmosis risk. There is a tiny risk of botulism but the NHS does not recommend that pregnant women need to avoid it.

It should not be given to babies under 12 months, however.

I didn’t know there was a risk with honey.

Is this raw honey or what if you roast vegetables in honey?

I have honey on toast most days!!

There isn't a risk with honey or cooked shellfish. Honey isn't recommended for babies under 1 year due to risk of infant botulism. That doesn't apply to pregnancy

There's an awful lot of misinformation about what you should and shouldn't eat in pregnancy. If you don't want to freeze the cured meats then have them cooked e.g. as a pizza topping or in pasta dishes, etc

www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/foods-to-avoid-pregnant/

Oops I'm mainly eating just salami and chilli peppers as I'm craving both.. 😕

There is no risk with honey. I don’t know why pp are avoiding it.

Or seafood! Every single food thread has something about seafood... if it's cooked it's fine! And its quite unusual for raw prawns/scallops/crab etc to be served.

Yes, I had chorizo, Parma ham and other continental meats when I was pregnant, often uncooked and not frozen.

I avoided pate, though, and Tesco had stopped doing my favourite one when I went looking for it after having my son