UNPASTEURISED FETA EATEN AND PANICKING

[UniqueKhakiSnake]

Hello, I have just had some hot feta spring like rolls and I got home and thought oh no I shouldn’t have had that. I rang the restaurant and they said it wasn’t pasteurised feta. I am only 4 weeks pregnant and never had a baby before so I am freaking out. Will I be okay? Any advice would be extremely welcome. Thanks 🙏

It is overwhelmingly likely that you and your baby will be fine.

If they were properly heated, that's fairly likely to have killed off any nasties, and even if they weren't you will almost certainly be fine x

what do you think is going to happen

are you ill?

You just said they were cooked so you will be fine

I’m not poorly, I just keep reading it’s dangerous if not pasteurised so it’s made me anxious!

You said they were hot so they were probably cooked long enough to kill any harmful bacteria. You would know by now if you had food poisoning so if you feel fine the no need to worry.

The danger is that you get food poisoning (listeria can live in unpasteurised products and that causes listeriosis food poisoning, usually a mild disease, but more concerning in pregnancy)

If you don't get food poisoning, then there's no impact on the pregnancy.

Even unpasteurised things are ok once cooked due to nuking the bacteria! I had unpasteurised cheese in all 3 pregnancies and no harm done

What others have said- if it was cooked through you are absolutely fine. You could eat a baked camembert if you felt the need.

The risk is very low in general. Think about it- when did you last get food posioning from cheese?

The risk of listeria is high higher in the latter stages of pregnancy. At your stage it will be virtually nil. Nil in fact if you aren’t unwell

It’s fine as it’s cooked. It’s most probably fine anyway, I eat feta a lot and have never got food poisoning from it.

Congratulations on your pregnancy 💐

It's fine, you can really eat anything. These are just guidelines to mitigate risk.

I ate feta all through my pregnancy and so did all the pregnant women around me (lived in Greece at the time). You will most likely be fine op 🙂

You might like to have a read of Expecting Better by Emily Oster, OP... It explains the reasons behind many of the common guidelines and helped me understand the choices I was making around food in particular. Just knowing "why" helped my anxiety loads!

It’s ‘bad’ because there is a slightly higher risk of food poisoning which is more dangerous for pregnant women

there is nothing that will harm the pregnancy in it

as someone said- read expecting better

i ate all cheeses and meats and rare steak throughout pregnancy with gay abandon. Just exercised common sense about the preparation, quality of ingredients and cleanliness.

Learn to control your anxiety which is causing more issues than cheese 🧀

Stop reading up about your pregnancy online and just enjoy it

Enjoy being pregnant think of names and what pram you're going to buy and look at cute clothes etc

Stop panicking

Happy mother = Happy baby

Don't worry OP you will be fine 🙂

What brought me to mumsnet many years ago was the fact that while 3 months pregnant I ate some canapés at a wedding (trying desperately to stave off the morning sickness) and what I thought was olive tapanade was actually pate. Luke warm, sitting out all morning pate. And I accidentally ate unpasteurised cheese as well. But baby and I were both absolutely fine. The risk - especially these days with modern food production - is very, very small.

Try and distract yourself and I'm positive you'll be fine xxx

Most foods on the avoid list can be made safe by cooking e.g. unpasteurised cheeses, cured meats, smoked fish, etc.

Unpasteurised hard cheeses (e.g. parmesan) are ok to eat uncooked as they don't contain as much moisture as soft unpasteurised cheeses so less likely to contain listeria.

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

I've never heard if anyone getting food poisoning from feta. Any risk is already low but once cooked is negated

Not sure how to edit so quoting to add that my anecdotal evidence about no one getting ill is probably more accurate given that I lived for 10 years in Cyprus and had both my pregnancies there. It didn't cross my mind not to eat it!

It’s fine as it was cooked. And honestly - stress is the worst thing for your health and your baby once they arrive. Even th NHS guidance is super cautious and not really evidence based

Don’t just look at what’s ‘bad’
educate yourself on why it’s ‘bad’ then you can make your own informed decisions.

unpasteurised is a problem because of bacteria. The risk is low because of rules around food safety and handling. Bacteria is also killed in the cooking process.
the bacteria doesn’t cause miscarriage, it causes illness which you are more prone too because your immune system is lowered. There may be a link between severe illness and miscarriage but it’s certainly not just that feta is a problem and now you need to panic. You don’t even feel unwell. I think you’ll feel much better if you read up on what the guidelines are and why.