I can eat shop sandwiches...right?

[Bumblingonby]

Someone told me i shouldn't be eating supermarket sandwiches (m&s mostly) due to listeria risk. I googled and while there's nothing on the nhs there's some on other websites saying this...I know there's always a slight risk eating out or at others that they won't have washed or refrigerated foods properly but as someone with a long commute (so I don't take food to work) I've been eating shop sandwiches about once a week quite happily. Is anyone else avoiding them? Would doing so be paranoid?

It's fine :) Sandwich meats seem to be a no in America but everywhere else, it's fine.

You might wish to avoid smoked (uncooked) meats like parma ham if you are avoiding those (that's toxoplasmosis, not listeria though.)

The official line is yes you can, however I work in a microbiology laboratory testing food and definitely didn't eat anything ready made I personally wasn't going to heat up before eating when pregnant. People think listeria is really uncommon - it's not. You will be fine, but the baby won't. My boss and everyone I work with were very clear with me about especially avoiding pre made sandwiches, because they often have listeria in.
I've said this before on mumsnet and people get very upset with me because it's not part of the nhs guidelines. But it is the truth and if you don't want to risk it, don't take the chance.

I wouldn't want to because they're overpriced and taste rubbish. But generally i'd only follow NHS guidance.

I've been eating sandwiches daily. To be honest if I was to eat according to Googles advice I'd starve and die because apparently everything causes miscarriages or this food that food causes defects all this shit.
I'd like to think in this country we have a better food standard. Other non European countries dont have food standards , especially in less privileged countries, some of the conditions in factories and cafes ect are vile, contamination is more likely. Even USA, I'd be cautious eating out in a cafe/ restaurant. I mean have you seen kitchen nightmares ?
I've worked in hospitality here in uk and we have strict regulations in place and checks by appropriate authorities so I'd like to think the risk is relatively low.
Its only USA that advises against eating luncheon meat. Nhs dosent tell pregnant women to avoid it. I think your fine eating a store bought sandwich

@MoonIightDreamer OK well that's a yikes...I've been eating them loads. Can you ask your midwife for a listeria test?

I followed NHS advice with both my pregnancies pretty closely and didn't even know this was a thing to be honest! Personally, I would be inclined not to be too worried about it.

In the UK? Presumably this rules out LOADS of cold prepared food. What do you allow?

As a pregnant woman what are we supposed to do starve ?
Can't eat sandwiches can't eat salads .
Ii don't have access to a fridge at work so what do I take for lunch if I can't buy a salad or sandwich in fear of listeria. Pre prepackaged junk like biscuits or crisps which arent good for my baby either, what other healthy options are there besides salads ? Can't eat the fruit either incase there's any bacteria or soil
Fortunately I've never been sick from eating sandwiches and I've eaten them alot. I don't know any girlfriends who avoid sandwiches

I do understand the risk but I’ve eaten them all the way through. Have avoided M&S prawn as I believe they’ve had listeria cases!

Listeriosis is still a rare condition, though. There are fewer than 200 cases in the UK each year (PHE 2014, 2016, Scottish Government nd), and up to 30 of these are pregnant women . Although rare, it's vital to recognise and treat listeriosis because it can seriously affect your unborn baby.
www.babycentre.co.uk › lis...
Listeriosis in pregnancy | BabyCentre

According to gov.uk
Overall it is a rare infection. There are an average of 160 cases per year in England and Wales. The majority of cases are asymptomatic or have mild self-limiting gastroenteritis

I'd avoid chicken in a sandwich personally because I was very sick from one once.

If listeria dosent kill our babies the starvation will.
Every single thing you eat can contain bacteria. Its just more common in cold foods that aren't properly processed or shellfish ect
Midwife has never advised me to stop eating sandwiches

@ChildOfTheMoon I feel a bit like this too! Blistering microwave soup it is then I guess haha

@MoonstoneAndRoseQuartz 😄😄 one way of not gaining weight in pregnancy.. don't eat food!

Thanks all. I have an anxiety disorder so this is partly about balancing that with all the rules, and not stressing too much while being responsible. All these rules must be a nightmare for anyone with ocd or an ED. Appreciate the responses...if anyone's eaten loads of M&S sarnies while pregnant and lived to tell the tale then I'd be grateful to know. I feel like if I ask the midwife for a test when I'm asymptomatic she'll look at me like I've grown a new head so I'd rather not have to.

I never paid much attention to list of foods not to eat, I feel this is why there are so many allergies and food intolerance now.

My favourite craves were prawn mayo sandwiches- I'm sure prawns were a no-no back then.

Can you not just make your own sandwiches to take?

If you have an anxiety disorder then I am not sure that focusing on hypothetical risks is going to be helpful, because eliminating all risk is impossible. (But anxiety will keep pushing you towards that). I would look up the NHS advice and then rigidly stick to this and try to screen out all other noise.

My long commute (2 hours) means it'd warm up a lot and I'm not carrying a cool bag around...

My friend lost her baby at 20 weeks following a bout of food poisoning so I followed the guidance and took extra precautions. If I had to buy a packed lunch I would go for a vege one and definitely swerve chicken, ham or prawns. But then there have been listeria and other food poisoning cases from salad items so I knew it wouldn’t be fool proof.

Usually I did take a mini cool bag with me with a little freezer block and took food from home.

Expect this is good advice. I'll avoid sandwiches for now just as I've asked, but anything else the nhs page is the bible.

I must say one thing I find frustrating aabout the dairy stuff is "X is ok IF its pasteurised" but most creme fraiche or whatever won't say if it is. I assume all supermarket cream cheese etc has to say if its not?

You can eat sandwiches you make yourself and bring to work in an insulated bag with a little ice pack.

You can have soup when out.

You can have salad you make yourself after washing the components. There are containers available where you keep the salad dressing separate from the greens until you mix them together at lunch.

Buy a thermos and put leftovers from your previous night's dinner into it.

The reason to stick to food you've prepared yourself using ingredients that are not handled by a lot of other people in unknown conditions, and not using very processed ingredients or sugar or salt or arrificial flavours, etc, is to cut down risk of food borne pathogens. The fresher the ingredients and the fewer people handling the food the safer you are.

You can also buy something like bananas, cheese strings, bread rolls, packets of nuts or trail mix - salad isn't the only healthy option out there.

Yes I think you're not allowed to sell unpasteurised dairy in the UK without a warning anyway.

What's wrong with a cool bag?

It's more than a little unreasonable of you to complain there's nothing you can eat when actually there is plenty you could eat but you have an issue with the container you could schlep it around in.

I mean have you seen kitchen nightmares

Lol at the idea that the restaurants and cafes on that show are representative of all the millions of restaurants in America.

I have bad knees so the less I have to carry on my commute which involves 3 trains and lots of walking, plus existing heavy bags, the better, I also don't want to have to buy a cool bag. It's fine though, there's a fridge at work and I can just buy stuff and make it there. I'm not trying to be a martyr, I'm just trying to gauge how many hoops I really have to jump through, without risking being irresponsible.