Accidentally ate mould ripened cheese

[Obviousnamechangeisobvious1]

I was out for dinner and shared a meat and cheese platter. I didn't eat the meat as it was cured and wasn't sure about the blue cheese so left it. I was so happy that there was a camembert made with pasteurised cheese! I could eat it! So I did. Then I was checking something else and saw that even if it's pasteurised, you can't eat it because it's mould ripened. I had a about 2 matchbox size portions. Panicking. Will it be ok?

I thought if it's cooked it's okay ?

The risk of anything food related is very, very low. You are almost certain to be completely fine.

Of course you’ll be fine!

Assuming you’re not now feeling ill, it’s fine.

You’ll be absolutely fine, please don’t worry!! I ate any sort of cheese when I was pregnant - risks are EXTREMELY low!!!

It'll be fine. I so hate seeing pregnant women worry about such nonsense.

Ok thank you all so much! I don't mind making a conscious decision about which "rules" I break but I didn't like how I'd done it by accident.

Thanks again

Pregnant women in France don't give up cheese...lucky buggers. You'll be fine.

I did that. I did private test for lysteria( i think that was the bacteria) to put my mind at ease, but it was fine.

Bigbadboom, I said that last tine a post like this came up and was very quickly corrected. They do give it up in France.

Op you really don't need to worry.

Almost all the dietary rules are there to avoid food poisoning - so if you're feeling fine now, then you've nowt to worry about. If you want to eat the cheeses on the "bad list" then have them cooked, eg in a sauce and that'll remove the risk.

The only food you should avoid for non-food poisoning reasons is liver pate as they're not sure of too much vitamin e might be an issue. But that's a might too, due the lack of proper scientific research around pregnancy. Bumpology is good (& fun) book on pregnancy science

Bumpology: The myth-busting pregnancy book for curious parents-to-be amazon.co.uk/dp/0857501305/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_VATEQ34S11K0WWH4QDXR]]

Yes, don't spread the France myth please. French government guidance on cheese in pregnancy is almost exactly the same as in the UK and in fact goes a bit further as women are also advised to avoid ready-grated cheese.

The liver issue is to do with vitamin A, which has a clear and proven link with some birth defects when consumed in large quantities during pregnancy.

Nevertheless the cheese you ate was almost certainly fine, OP. If you were going to be poorly it would have happened by now.

I like to think the French government don't recommend ready grated cheese because they think it's an affront to cheese and no one should eat it!

I've really benefited from looking deeper into WHY certain things are advised against and then how big really is the risk and what can be done to minimise it. Mould ripened cheese is to do with listeria, but in reality listeria outbreaks tend to be completely unpredictable - you might get it from ready cut fruit, chicken and sweetcorn sandwich (the culprit wasn't chicken, it was the corn), raw milk soft cheese (unpasteurised), and basically anything else in your fridge.

So I've allowed myself the odd treat of mould ripened cheeses with these rules: must be made from pasteurised milk, must be individually packaged (so excluding deli counter cuts from a large block) and eaten only from freshly opened pack, so if it's been sitting in my fridge for days even if I was happy to eat it at first, I'll leave the leftovers for my husband or cook it. I haven't had food poisoning.

@Obviousnamechangeisobvious1

I like to think the French government don't recommend ready grated cheese because they think it's an affront to cheese and no one should eat it!

😂👌

OP I ate this type of cheese actually on purpose at Christmas as I assessed the risk and determined it to be so small as to not matter. You’ll be fine x