Listeria salad worry

[rach971]

I went out for tea tonight (I'm 7 weeks pregnant) and there was some salad on my plate. I only ate the diced up pepper and onion that was on top of the lettuce but I know you shouldn't really eat salads etc in pregnancy and now I'm terrified of listeria and losing the baby. I'm so annoyed with myself. Even worse that it can take a couple of months for any infection to show. Really hoping it'll be okay :(

In the UK?
Isn't the risk usually abroad due to the water it's washed in, that isn't treated like ours?

There's no guidance afaik that says don't eat salads in pregnancy. Where did you read this?

You absolutely can eat salads in pregnancy! You will be absolutely fine.

You only have to avoid the foods listed on the NHS website. Salad wasn’t on the list when I was pregnant. Some websites based in other countries do say don’t eat salad but I think it’s to do with the water it’s washed or any soil left on the salad but most salads are grown in a compost medium not soil.

The advice is to not eat pre-made salads, I'm sure the lettuce on your burger would have been safe to eat. You'll be ok.

Pre-made=pre-packed

@MegaMewtwo Yeah I'm in the UK. I've read it on lots of websites although to be fair they could be US websites! I've just had a look on the NHS site and it says the following:

Be careful with fruits, vegetables and salads as they can have soil on them, which can make you unwell.

Make sure to thoroughly wash all fruits, vegetables and salad ingredients.

But it will have been washed. It’s fine.

Just stick with the NHS advice. If the sale has been washed, which it will have been, it’s fine. You could have eaten the lettuce too.

There’s no advice to not eat salad? They will have washed it. I never wash any fruit or veg and had a healthy baby. I think you need to get a handle on your anxiety as there’s a hell of a lot more to worry about once baby turns up

You need to avoid unpasteurised cheese, processed meats, meat pates and raw/rare meats. Follow standard basic food hygiene with everything else and you should be fine.

I’d stick to the NHS advice rather than any other websites. You can probably pick any food and you’ll be able to find a website saying you shouldn’t eat it while pregnant.

The salad will have been washed.

Kid is going to grow up thinking 1+1 = 7 😂

Not a very helpful comment. I also had such intense anxiety during pregnancy, and the "fourth trimester" but it went away by the time baby was 6 months old - the hormones just make some people very anxious

Anxiety is normal in pregnancy, but getting worked up over a restaurant served salad isn’t anxiety, it’s an uneducated lack of common sense which isn’t a lifestyle suitable for having a child.

I thought the risk of listeria was in salads such as coleslaw or potato salad and also on soft cheeses such as brie. If you've just eaten some raw pepper and onion you don't have anything to worry about. I remember being newly pregnant and worrying over things like this OP but honestly, you've done nothing wrong xxx

Unwashed salad leaves are a rare source of listeria. Very occasionally some pre-bagged salad sold in supermarkets gets recalled due to it.

ETA - but I agree OP didn’t do anything wrong, and there’s no reason to avoid all salad all through pregnancy!

It's a shame not everyone is quite as kind and reassuring as others, but thank you to those who have been.

Yes I do have anxiety (or apparently also an 'uneducated lack of common sense'), yes I do worry, but I already have two children and my anxiety is very much kept internal and doesn't affect them. I do have a handle on it, yes I panic over things like this but it does pass. I've had a missed miscarriage before and once you've been through something like that it exacerbates the worry in future pregnancies

Do you know how vanishingly rare listeria is?

put this out of your mind. You could eat a salad every day of the pregnancy with some unpasteurised brie washed down with a glass of wine - and nothing would happen

it’ll be a long 18 years! Honestly - chill