To brie or not to brie, that is the question

[HannahBee92]

I've always liked Brie, but never in my life have I craved it as much as I do right now (8+5). Sods law.

I know there are two camps when it comes to the avoidance of things like Brie, either "strict avoidance, its only 9 months", or "meh its not so bad to indulge from time to time".

Just curious as to people's opinions: eat the brie and bacon panini - yes or no?

I had my booking appointment on Wednesday. The midwife specifically said no Brie to me. x

You can eat it cooked so a panini should be fine

I've gone without, it's my due date today and the only thing keeping me going is the thought of some brie and crackers after I deliver whenever that may be that and seeing my baby obviously!
I'm more excited about the cheese than a glass of prosecco!

I ate it, not cooked. Expecting Better is a fantastic book about the actual science behind these potential risks and helps women make informed choices based on the science for themselves.

I wouldn't but I went from 3 filter coffees a day to none when I got pregnant as I was so worried about everything!

Cooked is perfectly fine, so bake one and enjoy it that way! Yum!

Cooked is perfectly fine, so bake one and enjoy it that way! Yum!

I ate everything, except lots of liver and shark/swordfish (no real hardship there!) because those seem to be the only things there is actual real evidence for avoiding - too much mercury from swordfish and too much vit a from liver can affect development.

Everything else, soft cheese, blue cheese, rare steak, raw eggs etc etc are all just ‘risk of’ listeria or food poisoning, or whatever the case may be. That risk is there whether you’re pregnant or not.

So excited I said it twice!

Bake a wheel with garlic and rosemary and it is absolute bliss!!

I’ve always eaten it - usually on a toasted panini with turkey and salad (deli meat is usually a no-no too though)

You can have it cooked so baked, breaded (with sweet chilli dip) or melted in a panini would be fine

I'm due next week and have really relaxed since the third trimester, I was having it in paninis several times a week while at work 😂 the only thing I haven't eaten is liver/pate

It's not like smoking where the cheese itself would be bad for the baby, it's whether you get listeria from it (how lowered immune system during pregnancy) and that can be very harmful.

Brie and bacon panini are, IME, hotter than the sun on the inside and therefore absolutely fine.

My midwife said I can eat it so long as it’s cooked/hot. X

Cooked is fine, so it's frozen (and then defrosted) apparently, both would kill the bacteria.

Cooked until bubbling is OK. Frozen and defrosted, but then not cooked, isn't (sorry PP).

I was reasonably relaxed about pregnancy guidelines (small glass of wine every couple of weeks in the second half of my pregnancies, had caffeine up to the recommended limit, etc.), but the listeria guidelines I was scrupulous over. Listeria can be in anything, but it is more likely to thrive in certain food environments, and soft or mould-ripened cheeses is one of those. (Conversely, hard cheeses are probably OK even if not pasteurised, because the bacteria struggle to thrive in that environment - I still avoided non-pasteurised cheeses, though). The risk is still relatively low, but the consequences are potentially devastating. To me, it's a comparable type of risk to a car accident - you are very unlikely to be in one, all other things being equal, but you would still put your kids in a car seat.

I ate everything, except lots of liver and shark/swordfish (no real hardship there!) because those seem to be the only things there is actual real evidence for avoiding - too much mercury from swordfish and too much vit a from liver can affect development.

Everything else, soft cheese, blue cheese, rare steak, raw eggs etc etc are all just ‘risk of’ listeria or food poisoning, or whatever the case may be. That risk is there whether you’re pregnant or not.

I ate it

'That risk is there whether you’re pregnant or not.'

This is true, but it's the damage that listeriosis can do to the foetus that is the issue in pregnancy. It can cause foetal death, and neonatal listeriosis kills 20 to 30% of babies infected (if I have read that right).

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2621056/

I eat it

Only don't have pate that's the only thing I've not had is pate or liver and swordfish / shark
I've also reduced how much tuna I eat

AndIt Well yes, I did doubt it (because science), but then it was in the official nhs leaflet I got so I thought it was maybe commonly accepted. And while I don't trust anything they come out with anymore, many do still think they are a reliable source of information. Perhaps they've changed their mind on it since though.
Sorry, for giving bad information.

Cooked is fine, just make sure piping hot. I ate some before I knew I was pregnant

No, don't. I was in France last month and there was a brie listeria issue, women have lost pregnancies after this.

Really well cooked is fine, I believe.

www.foodsafetynews.com/2019/04/french-listeria-cases-linked-to-cheese-company/