Feta cheese etc OK when pregnant?

[sprout]

I'm confused! Lots of on-line information sources and books say you should avoid blue-veined cheeses, ones like Brie & Cammembert, and Feta, as well as cheese made with unpasteurised milk when pg because of the risk of listeriosis. I've just asked my gynae, who said I only need to avoid things made from unpasteurised milk, but all the rest is OK. How do I know who to believe?

GRMUM, if you're out there, what do they tell pg women in Greece? Is feta OK or not?

who told you you couldnt? i have only ever seen feta on the safe cheeses list.

In France, you can eat a wider variety of food when pregnant than here, but, as in Belgium< they recommend you avoid salads.

I find it strange that they would recommend oysters because it is so easy to get food poisening from oysters! Most people (non-pregnant ones I know) have had bad run ins with oysters...even from reputable places!

Isn't toxo immunity part of the routine bloods here? I'm not certain because I went private with my first, and my ob checked at the first set of bloods, and a second set at about 20 weeks for toxo immunity.

I would love it if the supermarkets could put a 'safe for pregnant women' logo on their cheeses (like their nut allergy warnings). I spent ages trying to figure out what I could and couldn't eat in the dairy aisle.

I asked my midwife because I was craving it as well. She said best to be avoided even if pasterised as it is classed as a soft cheese.

Hope she is right because I love it and have been avoiding it all the way through.

Feta is fine if purchased in the UK (from supermarkets etc) as by law it has to be made from pasturised milk and is therefore perfectly safe - just like cheddar. 'Proper feta' that you would get in greece is made from unpasturised milk and should therefore be avoided.

Can't believe I haven't eaten parmesan for 21 wks unneccessarily!!!! I love it too! Had been avoiding because packet said made from unpasturised milk...but does it being a hard cheese make it different?

I agree with what someone further up said - if you eat these things regularly you probably have immunity, like these lucky French pregnant women who can stuff themselves with smelly cheese!!

As an side, (marsups post) sushi IS allowed in pregnancy.. as long it is not prepared fresh.. it needs to be frozen first.. eg, a lot of shop sushi is ok, as it is frozen first before it appears on display.

(found that really interesting as I love sushi!)

As for feta.. I read somewhere it was ok, see Hersettas post.. have eaten more than the odd bit!

I am Greek and eat feta every other day. When pregnant my mum was told to eat lots of it as a good source for calcium - never broke a bone in my life

Feta fine, all hard cheeses fine (eg parmesan) sushi fine as long as frozen first to kill worms (EEEEEEEEEEEEK!). Sushi makes me shudder though. Food standards website very useful.

I don't recommend it, but in my third trimester, I ate a shitload of sashimi - I was in Vancouver, where the sushi shops are abundant and very fresh. As I didn't get food poisoning, I can only now hope and believe that the baby will have benefited a little from the fish oils. I knew there was some risk, but only of food poisoning at that stage, which would have been worse for me than the baby. And I craved it so much and avoided the mercury-risky fish. I also asked here and an Italian friend about proper buffalo mozzarella and was given the okay for that, which is especially good as it contains 3 times the calcium of cow mozzarella.

i'm going to be six months pregnant when I go to Crete and I am going to continue to eat feta, blue cheese and anything else I want - you have to remember what the women in other european countries eat and that advice varies internationally - I also eat rw fish, which in Japan they encourage women to do.So far my baby is very healthy and kicking away all the time!

I think the whole food thing is MAD!!!! Stressing about what you are eating/craving/may have eaten will do far more harm to your baby than the food itself. We should all chill out and bear in mind that different countries have different ideas so if I fancy a bit of cooked meat I pretend I'm in Italy. I'm off to France tonight for a glass of red wine and then to Greece tomorrow for a bit of feta salad. Nice.

Ok, to add my little bit! I'm 34 weeks, and have eaten feta and goat's cheese throughout - but I check that it's pasteurised. I'm veggie, and craved feta.
FIL is a retired microbiologist, and BF works in the centre for communicable diseases [access to the databases on these things!]. Both say pasteurised is fine, and FIL encouraged me to eat a goat cheese with a rind but it was cooked! His argument - backed by DH who is a PI lawyer - is that nothing served in a restaurant is likely to be unpasteurised. (Had lunch with a friend who balked at a cheese and colselaw sandwich because of the mayo - as if a packaged sarnie had even been near a raw egg...)
So, feta, hard goat's, soft goats without rind (only occasionally), halloumi...all fine, if pasteurised.

Listeriosis is actually quite rare.
Toxoplasmosis - also rare, and ok if you're immune. I have no idea - not tested - but I imagine, having been brought up on a farm and slept with lambs and kittens (!!), practically ate cowpats etc that I'm good and immune!

I really want to know what European women are told. Actually, I think I'll start a thread.

Pre DC I was a microbiologist specialising in food safety, I have seen data which shows what happens to Listeris if it is injected into cheeses like Feta. Feta unlike Brie and Camembert is really salty so Listeria cannot grow in it like it can in the other two.

I am pregnant right now and have eaten Feta, Hallomi and goats cheese (not that keen on Brie or camembert to be honest).

The thing is as it is well known that Listeria is a risk in these cheeses they are produced and tested to very high standards and I would bet you would be more likely to find Listeria in a local lettuce than a bit of Brie. Thats from testing experience as well.

I assume Brie made from pasteurised milk is OK? How about blue cheese from pasteurised milk (eg Oxford blue) - any ideas?

Pants sorry just read the earlier page. Whoops