Smoked salmon when pregnant

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I tried looking it up and I’m getting mixed results. I’d like some smoked salmon sushi (the salmon is cooked but it is cold). Just the type you get from the supermarket. Do you think this will be ok? I’m in England.

Sushi is fine if the fish has been frozen previously (most shop bought in the UK has been). But I’m confused because smoked salmon isn’t usually cooked?

I believe the guidance on smoked salmon in the Uk has changed to avoid when pregnant.

I read on some sites that you can eat it and on others you can't so I avoided it. I'm sure you would be fine and nothing would happen if you ate it but if you're prone to worrying, I'd avoid.

Current nhs advice is to cook smoked fish if eating during pregnancy due to a listeria outbreak.

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

@NewYorkLassie thank you. I think it’s partially cooked to get rid of bacteria, but not fully cooked because I don’t think smoked salmon is supposed to be. Good to know that supermarket smoked salmon is usually frozen beforehand. @cookiecreammmpie it’s so confusing, isn’t it? I’m craving it.

Smoked salmon is smoked/cured rather than being cooked.

I’ve heard of hot smoked and cold smoked and I still don’t know what to do. I’m really craving it! Apparently it’s not raw but I’m still not sure.

It’s not raw because it’s cured/smoked, but it isn’t cooked. Hot smoked salmon is cooked smoked salmon but that’s not standard smoked salmon you get in the sushi packs. The current advice is not to eat it in pregnancy due to a listeria outbreak, but it’s completely up to you to decide.

NHS currently says no due to listeria outbreak in smoked fish. I feel your pain as I'm craving smoked salmon and smoked mackerel pate but the NHS advice is what I'm choosing to follow

It’s weird because I also craved this when pregnant. But I wouldn’t mess about with listeria. It’s not a ‘potential little /big bit of damage’ ie, a quantity/ frequency thing like alcohol or even smoking.

It’s a your fine to eat it until you have a mouthful with listeria. Then it’s potentially a blind baby.

Russian roulette IMO.

You could try making it yourself at home if you can find pasteurised everything, then cook the salmon fresh and blitz it together.

Current NHS guidance is to avoid due to a listeria outbreak. Very annoying in my last pregnancy in 2018 wasn’t a problem to eat it but I am avoiding it this time

They changed the advice about a week after I had smoked salmon while pregnant.

My eldest is nearly 30.
When pregnant I ate smoked salmon, liver, and pate. Also had a couple of G&Ts a week (and the obstetrician told me to enjoy them). All the above were allowed then. Avoided soft cheese and uncooked egg.

Everything is so avoided these days. For years we avoided butter and now know it was pointless. All things in moderation I say.

I think it's also interesting how everything has to be avoided and formula is akin to poison and infants are then switched to processed nuggets, packet food and chips too often.

Oh dear,I didn’t know and I’ve eaten it about 3 times this pregnancy !

It’s because of a recent listeria outbreak, it’ll probably switch back to being ok again once the outbreak is over.

Didn’t realise about the guidance change, I’ve been eating it loads! Had it loads with my first too. Oops!

The day after my youngest was born, a friend brought me a “listeria platter” of delicious banned-during-pregnancy foods. Maybe you could look forward to one of those?

I ate loads in my last pregnancy! Couldn’t get enough of sushi/ bagels, cream cheese and smoked salmon. I was disappointed to see that the guidance has changed and now I’m having to avoid it! I had some vegan sushi, and I made my own with tuna the other day but it’s not quite the same!

I think freezing kills listeria. So most fish will be fine for that reason from a supermarket. Look on the packet and it should say.

Heating kills listeria
You could heat the smoked salmon to make it safer and then eat it cold afterwards

Also….pointing out the blindingly obvious here, but clearly it is your choice regardless. Mumsnet sometimes treats food guidance as law. Personally I ate soft cheese because I wanted to and the risk is low, but didn’t drink alcohol at all because I didn’t want to (even though a glass at Christmas is not likely to harm your baby). Pregnant woman still have freedom over their bodies.

Nothin’ like a bit of survival bias mixed with a lovely dollop of judgment about ‘parents today’.

For what it’s worth, the current advice on smoked fish is temporary and related to a specific listeria outbreak. The advice on liver, and liver-based pâté, is due to a strong body of evidence regarding excessive vitamin A intake in pregnancy (which is easily reached even with moderate intake of liver). Uncooked or lightly cooked egg is considered fine these days thanks to the lion-stamp scheme which vaccinates chickens against salmonella.

I ate tons when having ds I had no idea it wasn’t advised for some reason I’d only heard about pate and soft cheeses

This is the specific information from the Food Standsrds Agency regarding the current listeria outbreaks: www.food.gov.uk/news-alerts/news/vulnerable-consumers-advised-of-ongoing-risk-of-listeria-associated-with-ready-to-eat-smoked-fish

Indeed. I hate the 'back in my day...' posts. Maybe things have changed because we know more now than we did then?