Eating medium rare steak when pregnant?

[CobaltRose]

Hi everyone.

I'm having dinner round a friend's and was just enjoying a steak. It was mostly brown in the middle but had a few pink bits and was still slightly bloody. I thought this was okay but after Googling, apparently eating meat that isn't thoroughly cooked isn't recommended and is downright dangerous for baby?

I had a miscarriage in April and am only six weeks gone now, and now I'm panicking.

Don’t worry, this will not have harmed your baby.

Any germs tend to be on the outside of meat, and those would have been cooked off. I’d avoid pink burgers though.

I did the same when pregnant with DS at around about the same gestation and everything was fine for me.

Of all things I think beef is the least worrying meat because it can be eaten barely cooked without any risk. The reason it's not recommended is because any meat that isn't cooked thoroughly risks food poisoning. Obviously it's important chicken and pork or cooked thoroughly and really beef should be too but it's not massively dangerous.

A beef steak sorry!

You'll be fine, my understanding is that most of the bacteria is on the outside of the piece of meat so if you cook steak the bacteria on the outside gets cooked, a burger on the other hand, because the meat has been minced and mixed in the bacteria is throughout and so eating it pink carries a much higher risk.

Thanks everyone It's hard not to panic after a miscarriage.

It will be absolutely fine, no danger there at all.

I did exactly the same when I was about 7/8 weeks and rang nhs 111 hysterical. A very kind doctor told me I could eat rare steak if I wanted asking as it had been seared in a hot pan - any bugs would be on the outside and the browning process would kill them off. He said the same as a PP and said to avoid rare burgers as it's harder to kill any surface bugs on mince. His first question when I told my sorry tale was "had I enjoyed it!?"

You'll be fine xxx

Thank you everyone

Beef steak is, by definition, completely sterile. The bacteria are introduced during processing because the animal is cut up by machine.
As long as the outside is properly seared, it is safe to eat.
Mincing meat (like in burgers) mixes the bacteria in, which means that you shouldn't eat rare burgers.

It’ll be fine. Especially in this country.

I remember taking DS1 for the seaside and we got a 99 from the pier then I freaked or for the next month after I realised that it was unpasteurised ice cream!

Have you had your scan?

This is not strictly true - the risk in rare beef, even steak, is toxoplasmosis, which can be found anywhere within the meat, not just on the surface like normal bacterial contamination. Chances are you will be fine, but that is the reason that rare meat is not recommended.