What cheese can I eat?!

[ginandgingers92]

I've been trawling the NHS website, and have asked my midwife but neither have been any help!

My question is related to christmas cheese and smoked salmon mousses!

I know most soft cheese (unless cooked) like Brie and Camembert, is out, but what about Le Roule/Boursin and cream cheese (often called soft cheese on the pot, like cheapy philedelphia?)?

Again, I know smoked salmon is safe (phew!)but the smoked salmon mousse canapés are often made with cream cheese? Are these ok?

🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼

Cream cheese/soft cheese is fine so long as it's pasteurised. If you're buying it in a supermarket in the UK it will say on the packet if it's made with unpasteurised milk.

Even unpasteurised is fine if it's been cooked thoroughly.

Ocado page for standard bourdon

*boursin

Thanks so much! I've been checking the packets and nothing says unpasteurised, so can I assume it is? 🤔

The mousse I'm not sure of as I don't fully understand when a mousse becomes a pate I probably wouldn't, especially if they've been standing out for very long, but someone else might know better.

Yeah I think pates/mousse are off, but you could have smoked salmon and philly canapes just fine. Again I'm not sure when a mousse becomes a pate!!

It is a very small risk though so forgive yourself if you accidentally eat something you shouldn't.

What brand is it? Boursin state on their website that all their cheese are made using pasteurised milk: www.boursin.ca/en/faq-boursin/.

If not a known brand, you can always get in touch with the supermarket customer services and ask (though they're probably pretty busy this time of year).

Its mould ripened and blue cheeses that you need to be careful of - they are ok to eat cooked.

Pasteurised cheeses like boursin, philadelphia, etc are ok.

You can eat hard cheeses like parmesan whether they are pasteurised or not

So this is the ingredient list for the smoked salmon mousse things... I'm thinking from this it's ok? Might just send a message to Tesco and see 🙈🙈

What are the ingredients in the mousse?

Looks fine. Full fat soft cheese is safe in pregnancy

www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/pregnancy/are-hard-cheeses-safe-to-eat-during-pregnancy/

The smoked salmon mousse looks fine to me.

There's no need to understand the line between mousse and pate, just consider what it's made with. Pate is on the 'avoid' list because liver is often a key ingredient, and it's very high in vitamin A which can (I understand) cause birth defects if consumed in large amounts. It's liver and liver-based products which should be avoided - you could have mackerel pate for example as there's no liver in it.

That's not strictly true. Other pates should be avoided due to listeria risk. You could maybe make your own to eat immediately if you wanted non liver pate. The salmon mousse looks fine though

Thanks all! I messaged Tesco and they said all milk is pasteurised unless it says it's not 🤗😅

Actually, ignore what I said about pate, I've just seen the NHS page says this:
"Avoid all types of pâté, including vegetable pâtés, as they can contain listeria."

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

Hang on a sec.... Is smoked salmon really fine?! I have been craving it for months and have a load in the fridge right now that I thought I couldn't eat....!!!

From the above link:

Smokedfish in pregnancy is safe

Smoked fish, which includes smoked salmon and smoked trout, is considered safe to eat in pregnancy.

The two things to watch for are that they are made with pasteurised milk and that they are not mouldy cheeses. Blue is a no no because it has the mould veins and the same for brie and camembert as they are mould ripened. You can have them cooked but not meant to have them uncooked (saying that, I have been known to eat some brie with the mould fully cut off as I can't resist).

Both boursin and phili are made with pasteurised milk so you are fine with those.

The salmon mousse should be okay. The cream cheese is likely to be pasteurised and the smoked salmon is fine.

The ones to watch for are raw eggs on the ingredients for a mousse (in case they are not red lion) and pate. The problem with most pate is that it is made with animal livers which are very high in vitamin A and that is what causes issues for the baby.

The ingredients are fine but if you want to be on control of it then it would be really simple to make your own smoked salmon mousse. Here is is a good recipe. www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/smoked-salmon-dill-lemon-pate%3famp

Blue is a no no because it has the mould veins

This is not NHS advice. They are clear that HARD blue cheeses such as Stilton are safe. Soft and semi-soft blue cheeses provide a moister atmosphere for bacteria to grow.

Thank you everyone :)