Rare Meat

[TokenGinger]

Hello,

I'm going to a Brazilian type restaurant today which serves skewers of meat, meat and meat.

I'm usually a blue/rare girl for my steak but obviously, I can't have that now.

Does anybody know if medium would be okay? I cannot face a well done steak so will stick to sausages, chicken and gammon if needed, but hoping medium will have been cooked hot enough to reduce any risk.

Thank you x

All meat needs to be completely cooked through when you're pregnant with no blood at all so it's a no to medium steaks I'm afraid. This because bacteria that can cause food poisoning and be harmful for the baby can survive cooking at lower temps or where meat isn't cooked through. I ate a lot of chicken when I was pregnant and eating out as restaurants tend to be really careful with it.

Thank you, @blackcat86. The advice online is so conflicting, with some saying as long as it's sealed entirely on the outside, it's fine, and others saying not at all. I will avoid it just to be on the safe side xx

I would eat rare steak - the issue is the surface (afaik). So no to steak tartar where it’s minced or pink burgers (yuk) but rare steak should be fine.

Although I’d want the surfaces all seared, not skewered with pink bits on show...

The advice for steak being fine if its sealed on the outside is for non-pregnant people who only have the bacteria on the outside to worry about. But any meat can have toxoplasmosis anywhere within it, and that's only killed by cooking the meat thoroughly. That's why medium steak is advised against in pregnancy.

I had medium steak last night. It depends if you're willing to take the risk

I've had rare beef a couple of times this pregnancy because I have craved it desperately. I wouldn't recommend ignoring the guidelines, but the risk is very small. However if you are happy to avoid / not craving it obsessively then it's obviously safer to do that!

What silvertongue said. It's to do with bacteria inside as well as on the surface - these would normally be fine for someone with a fully functioning immune system, but in pregnancy this is suppressed. I was a bit sceptical about the whole 'suppressed' thing myself until this week - DH and I got the same cold from a family member, he got away with a couple of sneezes and a bit of a stuffy nose. I've had 3 days of 38+C fever, serious shivers, endless snot etc. GP this morning thought the difference was to do with the different states our respective immune systems are in. (It's not flu, and I've had the jab.) As others say, the risk is low, but I'm a bit more aware of the vulnerability now.

I was craving nothing but medium rare steak in earlier pregnancy. To the point I asked the midwife. She said she'd recommend going with medium at least.