Food rules: how strict are you?

[MadamAnt]

This is pregnancy No3 for me, and I'm finding it hard to keep perspective on the food safety rules. For example, I am dubious about eating salad in restaurants just in case they haven't washed it properly. Ditto salads in shop-bought sandwiches. I'm not eating smoked salmon, even if I know it's v good quality and v fresh. I haven't been eating tartare sauce or mayo in restaurants, or anything with "illegal" cheese that's been cooked (e.g. on pizza) just in case it's not hot enough. There are numerous other things I'm avoiding, but these are the ones I suspect I may be being over-cautious about.

So am I being paranoid? I'd love to lighten up, but don't want to be reckless!

Are you hoping to avoid food poisoning?

I was just the same with all my pregnancies.

Mintyy - I'm mostly hoping to avoid Listeria and Toxoplasmosis.

Muffin - It's bloody tiring, isn't it?

riven - just the possibility of raw egg (sooo unlikely, I know!)

All I was going to say is that I have had food poisoning twice in my life (very lucky, cos I'm 46 you know) and once was from salad in a bag from the supermarket (Somerfield if you're interested) and once was from chicken in a sandwich from Boots.

So I would avoid those foods plus shellfish, the biggies you are officially warned about (pate and unpasteurised cheese), and anything questionable in terms of sell-by dates.

Otherwise, I'd eat anything I could muster up any enthusiasm for.

[40 weeks of nausea emoticon]

Well, I'm lucky in that I have had a test that shows I've already had toxoplasmosis, so can take fewer precautions that I might otherwise.

I never buy bagged salads or ready meals anyway, so that's no problem.

Am avoiding swordfish and marlin and shark, plus pate, undercooked eggs and unpasteurised cheeses.

But I have been tucking into shellfish (properly cooked and sourced from a reputable place), fish, lots of cheeses etc.

Luckily I had my DC in the late 80s when I don't recall anything being banned. And I don't like shellfish anyway, so never ate it.

It wasn't too bad but occasioanally I wanted to rebel! On the way back from the hospital with DD we stopped off at the shop and DH bought all the things I had been banned from for the 9 months. {yum}

cies - I'm not immune to toxoplasmosis, despite having had cats all my life, and a taste for all the "risky" foods...so I suppose it must be really quite hard to catch!

I'm not too bothered when it comes to eating at home as I can vet / wash the food as necessary, but it's more eating out that's a problem. I can't bring myself to interrogate the waiter about every ingredient. Do they use bagged salads in restaurants? Are M&S sandwiches with lettuce etc included in the "bagged salad" category?

TBH I wish "they" would provide a bit more info about the risks of the banned foods so that I could make a more informed decision. e.g. WHY is bagged salad a listeria risk? If I knew that then I'd be able to extrapolate the information more effectively to other foods. As it is I'm probably just being needlessly paranoid about perfectly safe foods.

And is smoked salmon safe if you freeze it? Freezing kills toxoplasmosis, so it should render smoked salmon safe. Unless there's another risk with salmon? Listeria??

I was exactly the same MadamAnt.

It was all quite stressful.

I am not immune to Toxoplasmosis either and became convinced I had all the symptoms at seven months (I didn't).

I think it is worth being careful though. When people say "Oh they don't bother in France etc" I always want to know what the rates of infection there are..

How much longer do you have?

TBH I think people talk out of their arses a bit when they say things like " oh on the Continent they don't bother". I live in Spain, and they do bother! Alcohol is a definite no no, plus all the things the FSA mentions, plus a few others (normal cooked ham, for listeria risk if the cold chain hasn't been properly maintained).

I wasn't aware there was anything wrong with smoked salmon. The FSA website doesn't mention it at all.

I'm 19 weeks pg

Actually, I feel a bit better about it all now that know I'm not necessarily being a paranoid freak.

Toxoplasmosis can only be caught from red meat (beef, lamb), contact with cats & their litter, and things that grow in the earth (root vegetables, etc) but is killed through thorough cooking. Raw fish is not a toxoplasmosis risk, but listeria and some types of worm. Cooking or freezing or smoking the fish apparently kills the bacteria. So smoked salmon is fine (esp if you buy it yourself and know it is fresh), I have been eating it occasionally. Also cooking cheeses kills off any listeria if there was any risk in first place so all cooked cheeses and pasteurised cheeses fine too (blue, goat, soft, etc.). Personally, have completely gone off bagged salads and most types of lettuce since pregnant so that one hasn't been problem for me. Read somewhere in the press that there have been 2 outbreaks of listeria in the UK in last 20 years, one from butter and the other from lettuce. Think your best bet to be safe is watch out for lettuce and raw things in general. Anything cooked should be fine (other than the general recommendations not to eat liver, swordfish, etc.). And the most important is that you feel comfortable with whatever you decide to eat or not, no point in making yourself feel guilty that you took too many risks.

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I was super paranoid with my first, totally slack with my second. I ate runny eggs all the time and enjoyed prawns and fresh tuna and smoked salmon, oh, and the odd glass of wine.

I didn't do sushi or pate, but didn't feel like them anyway.

i just eat what i want. i happen to not eat meat so a lot of these daft rules aren't applicable to me anyway. i work in an m&s and didn't half chuckle to myself at this pregnant woman shopping for the dine in for £10 offer with her mother. her mother was telling her she couldn't have the salmon, or the scallops, or the prawn linguini, or the tiramisu..cos that would have raw egg in it. the poor love.

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I'm 22 weeks with first. Was quite paranoid at first, but had some sort of epiphany after a thread about goat's cheese around 2 months ago.

I've had goat cheese (cooked in paninis or pizza) a few times, pate once, sushi weekly for last month or so, runny eggs when I feel like it.

The only things I've really stopped are alcohol and bagged salad/salad bars. Seems like so many outbreaks of foodborne illness are related to salad/salad bars, so am happy to avoid that one.

Commercial sushi is normally flash frozen to kill parasites, so there shouldn't be a problem with eating it. That's even on the government's website in the FAQ section.

I'm steering clear of mouldy, rind ripened or unpasturised cheese (no biggy with the mouldy but no brie! Sob!) though I have had some parmesan. No pate, liver (don't like it anyway) or sorbet. I do eat soft boiled eggs but they're from my own chickens and the white's most likely to have listeria from being closest to the shell and that's been cooked with boiled eggs. I haven't made any more sorbet whilst being pg though as obviously the egg white in that is raw. Alcohol is 1-2 units a week sometimes, sometimes none. Caffine, I do drink a fair bit of tea but have replaced some of it with a hot cordial instead. Eating plenty of fruit & veggies.

So does everyone eat the salad in restaurants?
Not sure why I'm fixating on it as we hardly ever eat out

And how about sandwiches with salad in them?

I've eaten salad in restaurants and have bought the odd sarnie with salad in.

I would say you are doing what YOU feel is right, and therefore not fo anyone else to comment on.

I didnt really eat out during my pregnancies, and DH is a chef so knew what I could and couldnt have.

The only thing I did cave over was 2 or 3 "mr whippy" type ice creams in pregnancy number 2.

I've been bad this time round, I've had sushi, smoked salmon, prawns etc. I am sensible enough and know I won't poison myself with the odd bit of the above mentioned.

the only thing I have been careful of recently is BBQ's. I've just checked food is cooked okay.