Ricotta?

[BertiesMangos]

Hi everyone - I know ricotta is safe to eat in pregnancy if either of the following are true:
a) It's cooked til piping hot
b) It's pasteurised

I had a spinach and ricotta pizza last and am now wondering whether either of a or b was true...

On a) Is ricotta on pizza "designed" to be cooked? I cooked for the cooking time plus a couple of mins and the overall pizza was done, but when i came to eat a slice 3-4 mins later the actual ricotta still seemed cold? So was the heating time not actually enough to suitably heat the ricotta itself to "piping hot", or does it just cool very quickly? I've not previously noticed any problems with my oven and it's only a couple of years old.

On b) it was a Sainsburys own pizza and doesn't say on the box whether the cheese (mozz & ricotta) was pasteurised or unpasteurised. Would it have been? Do supermarkets us unpasteurised cheese for own brand products? I don't know if it would be cheaper or more expensive for them - I assumed cheaper given less processing. I've called Sainsburys helpline and they patronisingly read out the website which doesn't say and said they have no idea. On their website they clearly label their actual cheese products in terms of whether pasteurised/ unpasteurised which is helpful, but not anything that has cheese as just one component (whether to be cooked or to eat cold).

In general I know the risk of listeria is low anyway so I am not looking for overall reassurance as such...but I don't like the "not knowing" about whether I am sticking to the guidance vs taking a risk, so any views on a) or b) or both very welcome!

It will definitely have been pasteurised, and then you cooked it too so totally fine. Unpasteurised cheeses are generally found at fancy artisan markets and the like, not on ready-made pizzas.

Ricotta is, by its nature, pasteurised. Its made by acidification of hot whey, which is obtained as a by product of making mozzarella. Its been heat treated twice, once making the mozzarella, then when making thd ricotta. Three times, if you include heating the pizza.
No Listeria is going to survive that!

If you're not feeling unwell by now, then it's all fine

The danger with some cheeses is that it can
Cause certain food poisoning which is harmful to unborn babies. If you don't have food poisoning 24 hours later, then no harm done

It is almost certainly pasteurised. No need to worry. When they say 'soft cheese', they basically mean the good smelly stuff that is really oozy. Ricotta on a supermarket pizza is totally fine.

@higgledypiggledyhen

If you're not feeling unwell by now, then it's all fine

The danger with some cheeses is that it can
Cause certain food poisoning which is harmful to unborn babies. If you don't have food poisoning 24 hours later, then no harm done

Thanks everyone. I didn't know that about ricotta - seems poor NHS advice to explicitly say "you can have this if it's pasteurised" if it's actually impossible for it to be unpasteurised?!

Good to know you think it's enough time (14 minutes) to cook any bacteria out, too, as I was conscious that baked ricotta is usually in the oven lots longer and that when I've had it at on pizzas previously its been a cold final addition so I didn't know if that was enough.

@higgledypiggledyhen are you sure that's true? My understanding of listeria - the issue with soft cheese - is that it would develop more like 30 days afterwards and often the mother has no symptoms, which I think is what makes it more worrying for expectant mothers?

Yes, it's impossible for it to be unpasteurised. Pasteurisation is heat treatment for 15 seconds at 72.5C. The whey is heated to around 85C for at least 10 minutes.
You are correct that Listeria can take a period of time to cause illness 1 day to 4 weeks, or up to 70 days in extreme cases. It may cause no symptoms, or mild flu like symptoms (so not what you would think of as classic food poisoning symptoms) in adults. It can be more severe or fatal, but this is extremely rare. The issue when pregnant is miscarriage /stillbirth.
Listeria isn't very heat stable, your pizza has been cooked way in excess of the time/temp needed to destroy it.

2 minutes at 70C will destroy it, your pizza was 14 mind at, what 220C ish?

@Weedsnseeds1

2 minutes at 70C will destroy it, your pizza was 14 mind at, what 220C ish?

Probably 200C I think. Thanks @Weedsnseeds1, you've been just what I needed to enjoy the rest of my weekend!

If you're still not convinced then look at the NHS website for guidance on what you can and cannot eat

Ricotta is safe.

@higgledypiggledyhen - I'd read it as my starting point; it says "pasteurised" ricotta is safe hence this was part of my question.

@Weedsneeds1 having thought about this some more, though, the temperature thing isn't as straightforward as that surely. The pizza itself needs to have got to at 75 degrees ish for at least 2 minutes. It wouldn't get to that, from chilled, by sticking it in a 75 degrees oven for 2 minutes. And things with higher water content, like ricotta, will increase in temperature slower. I'm not sure how long though, and may still be that the 14 mins at 200C is enough.

But, back to my original post, I do feel it's pretty likely that at least one, if not both, of my a) and b) are true.

I think you might be over thinking this...

@BrizNiz

I think you might be over thinking this...

I'm sure I am - but not helped by 1) supermarkets not labelling things, 2) ricotta often being served cold on pizzas anyway, 3) NHS website not mentioning that some cheese CAN'T be unpasteurised, if that's indeed the case. As I say, I appreciate the risk is low even if it was both uncooked and unpasteurised, and that the likelihood is that it was unpasteurised and probably also cooked... but I find the not knowing more difficult than getting over taking a risk in a weird, probably illogical way! Oh and, I can't do concise

BertiesMangoes I spend my working life conducting food safety audits on factories.
Ricotta is heat treated to oblivion.
Pizzas are put in a pre-heated oven at a very high temperature and are a few mm thick.
You won't get listeriosis from ricotta, on a pizza, that you cooked!

In the kindest possible way, you are massively overthinking this, OP. You have had reassurance from very knowledgeable posters.