Soft Cheeses, Lunch Meats and Pregnancy

[DIna00]

So I have heard you are not to eat soft cheeses (or lunch meats and hot dogs) during pregnancy, because of the possibility of bacterias.

But my question is - if cooked or microwaved, aren't the bacteria killed? For example if you microwave blue cheese or lunch meats, or bake feta in the oven, is it still a risk? Shouldn't the bacteria be killed if cooked at a proper temperature?

 

[elles-belles]

Uhm I haven't heard of these claims before. I know when I was pregnant I ate lunch meats and hot dogs and I didn't suffer from any ailment!
This is new to me but to answer your question, you should be able to kill off some bacteria from cooking lunch meats and blue cheese.

All the best with that!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

It's not new to me. I have certainly heard them time and time again, despite it being 2 decades since I was lest pregnant.

It is soft cheese and any with blue veins in them due to the growth of bacteria called listeria which pregnant women are considered to be at higher risk from due to the strain on their immune system.

It's a rare condition but it can cause miscarriage or still births or affect the unborn child.
www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/why-cant-I-eat-soft-cheeses-during-pregnancy.aspx?CategoryID=54&

Cooking the food with the bacteria in it does kill it, going by these resources. In fact you only need to hear it to above 65°C to kill it, so adding it to a boiling milk sauce to make day a blue cheese sauce and ensuring you continue to heat it well for 5 minutes or more should kill it.

www.foodsafety.gov/poisoning/causes/bacteriaviruses/listeria/
www.efsa.europa.eu/en/topics/topic/listeria.htm

But only you can decide if that is a risk you are prepared to take.

 

[DIna00]

Yes I did think you could kill any possible bacteria from heat. When I was pregnant with my first, I was craving greek salad for a while. We went to a greek restaurant and I was so excited to finally get a decent salad. I asked the waitress to ask them to nuke the feta for me in the microwave --- they refused to do it! They saw I was pregnant and wouldn't allow me to get the feta on my salad at all. Then they gave me the salad without feta - do you know how horrible a greek salad tastes without feta?!? Anyways, I always remember that and wonder if I was wrong in my assumption that microwaving it would kill any bacteria.