Panicking - ate smoked salmon 7 weeks pregnant

[Sussex34]

Hi all. Wondering whether anyone can help, I was in town and grabbed a smoked salmon sandwich thinking it was ok to eat in pregnancy as last time I was pregnant it was. However the guidance has now changed due to a recent listeria outbreak in smoked fish. I am going mad worrying. Does anyone have any reassurance? If someone did get listeria this early in pregnancy is does it mean you’re 100% likely to miscarry?

I’m pretty sure you’ll be fine. Please stop worrying x

why are you suddenly going to get listeria? Have you ever had or have ever known anyone with listeria? Out of all the thousands of smoked salmon packets why does the one you consumed have listeria?

I didn’t find out I was pregnant until rather late on, I’d eaten all of it - soft cheese, smoked salmon- pate! Everything was fine - you will be fine

Try not to worry, make sure you are reading UK guidance only as a lot of the scaremongering info comes from US sources.

I am sure it will be fine. You had no problems last time so there is no reason to think you will this time.

I ate loads when I was pregnant, I have young adults now. Please try to keep your anxiety in check

I ate sushi throughout pregnancy. If raw fish is past its best it's really obvious.

You'll be fine

Thank you. I am trying to approach this pregnancy differently in terms of not worrying so much but finding it very hard 😫

Good grief love its going to be a long pregnancy if you get this worked up about stuff. Youll be absolutely fine.

Current nhs advice is to cook smoked salmon due to a listeria outbreak linked with smoked salmon. You'd be very very very unlucky/unlikely to get it from a sandwich though.

Oh goodness, I'm almost 39 weeks and didn't know the guidance had been updated, again. I ate some this week 😬 they should probably email you about this kind of thing because who checks the NHS website before every meal?!

I'm sure it'll be fine. Lots of women don't even know they're pregnant at 7 weeks. I don't know anyone who has ever had listeria.

I've recently had a baby and had no idea about this! Stopped eating blue cheese, pate, etc, during pregnancy but wasn't aware smoked salmon was off the menu.

Anyway, it didn't do me or little one any harm 😊

Unless you feel unwell then in think you'll be ok

I didn’t stop eating anything when pregnant. I didn’t eat pate but that’s because I don’t like it.

I'm 33 weeks and eating it as normal.

You can get listeria from pretty much anything if it's stored wrong or there's something wrong with the factory. I ate everything except shellfish and soft cheese. All the advice is just about minimising the risk, it's actually a very unusual infection and I've not read of any smoked salmon issues. There are other reasons not to go totally overboard on fatty fish in pregnancy, they recommend no more than one portion a week in some countries, because the fat in those fish types can accumulate environmental pollution if it's prevalent. But tbh at that rate you'd just eat pizza for 10 months, and that wouldn't be very good for you or the baby either.

I wouldn’t panic about this, I think I ate smoked salmon in all my pregnancies. The chances of listeria are tiny so try not to worry. BTW the worrying is a pregnancy symptom! It must be an evolutionary thing to stop pregnant women behaving riskily. It made me feel a bit better about the anxiety when I learnt that.

www.food.gov.uk/news-alerts/news/ongoing-listeria-outbreak-linked-to-smoked-fish

Current advice is to cook smoked fish. There would only have been a tiny amount in your sandwich so I wouldn't worry about it.

You’ll be fine… some women still don’t know at this stage and do drugs / loads of booze !
all will be fine

You will be absolutely fine, please try not to worry as that's more harmful for you than the absolute tiny miniscule risk of getting listeria from it. I'm pregnant and have still eaten stuff that's on the 'banned' list but the risk is so so low and being pregnant is restrictive enough without having all your food policed and fretted about.

I ate some and then they went and changed the blimmin' guidance a week later 🙄 Baby and I are fine. Like others have said the NHS updated the guidance as there was a listeria scare but it is very unlikely you have it if you're feeling ok.

I actually feel quite overwhelmed with peoples kindness in replying, thank you. @Gunpowder I also didn’t know about worry being a symptom - it does make me feel better as I’m trying to fight against it in this pregnancy so much and approach things differently. Thank you all for your reassurance. X

There has been recent UK advice not to eat smoked salmon, but I had a panic over unpasteurised cheese. I did some research and I think I worked out the likelihood of baby having Listeria is lower than you being killed in a car crash . Basically it is extremely rare! So assuming you are happy to go in a car, try not to worry.