Rare steak in pregnancy????

[greenbeanie]

I have just read the new edition of the NHS pregnancy book which states that as long as the outside of meat is properly cooked it is ok to have things like steak rare. It says that it has to be a whole piece of meat - rather than mince in burgers for example. I am pregnant with dc3 and have always avoided this in the past but if it is ok would love to try.

Has anyone else heard this information before?

Mr Whippy icecream (and milkshake from machines, which are similar) pose a listeria risk if they are not cleaned properly - which they sometimes aren't. The cleaning process is quite tiresome so often skimped on

I would avoid both, but not be too concerned had I had one inadvertently.

Ah, so that's it (re Mr Whippy).

Luckily, at the moment, I want to eat nothing but potnoodle. I think I'm safe with spaceman food, though it's probably not all that nutritious, is it?

I would think if they thought Mr Whippy was something to avoid it would be in the NHS pregnancy book, which it isn't.

Apparently the problem with Mr Whippy is the temperature that it is stored at. It is never actually thoroughly frozen or heated and bacteria can breed. I only found this out in the past few weeks though and would totally have been stuffing them in my mouth in this weeks heat!

Re eggs, someone mentioned that eggs are free of salmonella now. That's not strictly true - as i understand it, British eggs are from hens vaccinated against salmonella. so if you buy British (eggs with the lion mark) you can eat them undercooked. However, you don't know if restaurants etc. are using British eggs versus imports. Therefore I deduce from that that if you are making homemade mayo, ice cream etc with British eggs you are probably okay, but if you have them in a restaurant you won't know the origin of the eggs.

FWIW, I happily eat soft eggs at home, but don't when out and about as I don't know where their eggs are from. Not quite domesticated enough to make my own mayo or ice cream though, so don't have to make a decision on that

Re steak, I eat rare steak while pg, but not rare burgers. I lived with a cat for 11 years so assume I'm immune to toxoplasmosis, plus the risk is tiny.

I eat sushi too - isn't that a bit of a grey area as well?

FWIW, my philosophy tends to be where the risk is a few steps removed from the baby's development - so with listeria/toxoplasmosis it is the risk that a) I get it (very small) and then b) that I am ill enough that it affects the baby (even smaller). So I don't worry about that. But with Vitamin A from liver products, the retinol is known to have a direct effect on the developing foetus so I prefer not to take that risk IYSWIM. Not sure if that makes me sensible for using my own judgment, or a hypocrite for risking my baby with one thing but not the other

As long as the outside of the meat is hot enough to kill bacteria then it's fine. As with egg thats slightly different as they could contain salmonella which could harm your baby if you get a bad dose. And toxoplasmosis, this canot be contracted from meat, its cat poo and dirt on vet ect, as long as you are carefull and wash things properly follow food hygeine etc you'll be fine.
How many time have you poisoned yourself before you we pregnant! Exactly!!! I haven't really changed my diet since becomming pregnant.

I think the toxoplasmosis only exisits on the outside of the meat because it's picked up from other things rather than being in the meat, so if the outside is cooked, you can eat it rare. I have been, and runny yolks as well.

nappyaddict - I think I have read in NHS literature that Mr Whippy is best avoided. I will see what I can dig out.

It's definitely not in any versions 2007 to date because I have seen all those through having pregnant friends at the time.

So is it impossible to catch salmonella from the lion eggs?

Mine are 2004 - maybe that's why?

Not sure about eggs... I think hens are either tested for, or vaccinated against salmonella these days, but I'm no expert. The paperwork I got last week definitely said no undercooked eggs, mayonnaise etc.

Most people who have cats aren't immune to Toxoplasmosis. I have had cats all my life and I wasn't. Think you pretty much have to eat cat poo from an infected cat to get it!

It can be in meat, but beef is less likely to have it. I have read that if you freeze the beef it will kill the toxoplasma. Or you have to cook it to above 70 degrees which for roast beef is very slightly pink. Maybe risk of getting it from rare steak is so slim that NHS have changed guidelines.

Risk of toxoplasma in pregnancy is supposedly 1 in 500 - and think the seriousness of it depends on when you get it in the pregnancy. Risk of Listeria is something like 1 in 25,000. The reason pregnant women are more likely to get stuff is that we have a weakened immune system.

I googled all this after eating rare beef and getting paranoid!