Can I eat my favourite things??

[newtolineofduty]

Hey everyone! Just conceived my second baby and been reminding myself of what foods I need to eat. Going through my meal planner this week has made me question whether Afew of my favourite things to eat are safe. Frustratingly, eggs and milk are listed on the ingredients but doesn't say whether they're pasteurised or not. Am I to assume if they're UK shop bought things that the eggs and milk used to make were pasteurised!? The things in question are things like coleslaw, potato salad, white lasagne sauce and fishcakes with Hollandaise sauce on the middle!

I don't remember being this confused in my first pregnancy so I either must have cut it all out to avoid confusion or been very chilled!!!

I know any risks are small but I'm a high risk pregnancy for a number of reasons and want to do everything I can to look after us both!

Thanks for your help ladies x

I would assume all of that is safe to eat.

I ate all of those. As you say, as long as eggs & milk are the standard shop bought ones, you are fine. These will be the main ingredients for the other items you listed so they are fine too. I'd not worry about this.

Food that is advised against in pregnancy does not become instantly inherently harmful the second you conceive. It is merely that these foods are / were thought to carry a higher risk of food poisoning. In fact, the most recent food poisoning outbreaks have been in salad bags, cucumber, hummus etc and these items are not on the list!
Eat what you like, as PP said, if it's all shop bought then standards are high.
Read "Expecting Better" by Emily Oster for scientific analysis of these myths.

Enjoy your lasagna!!

Any milk or eggs bought from a UK shop will be fine, its the law that it all has to be pasturized (milk) or lion marked (eggs).

Everything else you mentioned is fine too, the NHS page is a good place to start for what to eat/not eat.

www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/keeping-well/foods-to-avoid/

Thank you ladies xxx

Anything you cook is fine even if not pasteurised, so things like fishcakes and lasagne sauce you don't need to worry about as you will be heating them up as you cook them.

Thanks @GinnyBee x some ingredients say 'egg yolk powder' so I was assuming that's the same principle!? X

@newtolineofduty

Hey everyone! Just conceived my second baby and been reminding myself of what foods I need to eat. Going through my meal planner this week has made me question whether Afew of my favourite things to eat are safe. Frustratingly, eggs and milk are listed on the ingredients but doesn't say whether they're pasteurised or not. Am I to assume if they're UK shop bought things that the eggs and milk used to make were pasteurised!? The things in question are things like coleslaw, potato salad, white lasagne sauce and fishcakes with Hollandaise sauce on the middle!

I don't remember being this confused in my first pregnancy so I either must have cut it all out to avoid confusion or been very chilled!!!

I know any risks are small but I'm a high risk pregnancy for a number of reasons and want to do everything I can to look after us both!

Thanks for your help ladies x

So long as the eggs are lion stamped then you can have them runny. I think if they aren't lion stamped they need to be hard boiled.

Milk needs to be pasteurised.

As for the other sauces, I'm sure you'll be ok. If they are cooked then it doesn't matter if the milk was un-pasteurised or not as cooking makes it safe. Provided you buy in a supermarket the food will have had to go through testing to be allowed on the shelves so you shouldn't have to worry.

The main things that were on the No list are:
Pate
Liver
Raw Fish
Cheese with mould (blue, camembert, brie) *Camembert and brie can be eaten cooked (not sure about blue cheese as it's not something I ate anyway)
Cured meats (chorizo, salami etc).
Ice cream (I've eaten ice cream, but I was told strictly nothing like Mr Whippy)

I accidentally had half a raw pickled herring sandwich before I realised my error. I wasn't sick, baby seems fine and more than anything I just felt sad at having to leave the rest on the plate

Mr Whippy ice cream isn't on the avoid list, it totally fine in the UK!

@newtolineofduty Yep, anything you heat to bubbling hot is fine! Baked camembert, eggs, broccoli and blue cheese soup, milk straight from the cow... anything you're not advised to have 'as is' (unless the issue is something else, like alcohol or too much vitamin A) can be made safe by cooking :)

@TheLovleyChebbyMcGee

Mr Whippy ice cream isn't on the avoid list, it totally fine in the UK!

I was told it was because the machines were full of germs (rather than the ice cream).

I'm not fussed on Mr Whippy so it's not been an issue for me, but it would be good to know for definite if its ok or not

@NatMoz

I accidentally had half a raw pickled herring sandwich before I realised my error. I wasn't sick, baby seems fine and more than anything I just felt sad at having to leave the rest on the plate

I did this with a bacon and brie sandwich that I bought without thinking... I decided to take out the brie, but it made me so sad :(

Thanks for the reassurances everyone 😍 x

@PuertoPollensa

Food that is advised against in pregnancy does not become instantly inherently harmful the second you conceive. It is merely that these foods are / were thought to carry a higher risk of food poisoning. In fact, the most recent food poisoning outbreaks have been in salad bags, cucumber, hummus etc and these items are not on the list! Eat what you like, as PP said, if it's all shop bought then standards are high. Read "Expecting Better" by Emily Oster for scientific analysis of these myths.

Enjoy your lasagna!!

This ^^^ Blue cheese, sushi etc are not actually harmful. It's food poisoning that's harmful, and so they give pregnant women a long list of foods thought to be at more risk of giving food poisoning and tell them to avoid them. But that list is not backed by good data. So much of the data that pregnancy advice is based on is decades old or really badly done! Really wish Expecting Better by Emily Oster was standard reading.

Thanks @mswales will take a look xx