Foods you can eat and foods to avoid when pregnant
It’s wise to avoid certain foods during pregnancy. Some could harm your baby, while others may make you feel unwell, which can be hard to cope with when you are pregnant.
| Avoid: | It's safe to eat: |
|---|---|
| Unpasteurised milk, either from cows or goats. It could contain a bug called listeria, which can harm your baby | Pasteurised (heat-treated) milk, the sort you get from your milkman or supermarkets |
| Soft mould ripened, blue-veined, or unpasteurised cheese such as Brie and Camembert, Stilton or Danish Blue. These may also contain listeria bacteria | Hard cheeses like Cheddar, Red Leicester, Edam, Parmesan; soft, processed cheeses like Dairylea and Philadelphia, cottage cheese, cream cheese, mozzarella |
| Liver and products like liver sausage and pate. They may contain high levels of vitamin A which has been linked with birth defects | Vegetable pates, pasteurised vacuum-packed pates, meat pastes or pates in jars; make sure they don't contain liver |
| Soft-boiled or raw eggs and foods which contain raw eggs such as home-made mayonnaise, mousse or uncooked cheeseecake, and soft-whipped ice cream from kiosks. These foods may contain salmonella bacteria which can cause food poisoning | Hard-boiled eggs, shop mayonnaise in jars as it's made with pasteurised (heat-treated) eggs, which destroys the salmonella bacteria. Baked cheesecake, meringue and pre-wrapped ice cream |
| Raw or undercooked meat, fish or chicken. Be extra careful about barbecued food. Undercooked meats can contain the salmonella bacteria which can cause food poisoning | Well-cooked meat, poultry and fish. Check that juices run clear and no pink bits are left. Oysters, prawns, mussels and crabs if well cooked; otherwise they can cause food poisoning |
| Foods that may not be properly heated through or cooked such as pre-cooked, chilled foods like chicken drumsticks and meat pies. If not completely reheated, these foods may contain listeria bacteria which can affect an unborn baby | Ready-made meals that you have re-heated until they are piping hot all the way through |
| Cold deli meats, cold chicken, cold beef, salami, ham, luncheon | Hot ham, hot beef, hot chicken |
| Unwashed salads and vegetables. They may contain the listeria bacteria or the toxoplasmosis parasite, both of which can affect an unborn baby. Avoid deli coleslaw, rice and bean salads | Well-washed salads and vegetables |
| It is recommended that pregnant women do not consume hummus, irrespective of the tahini ingredient. The tahini content is a concern due to salmonella. However, even without the tahini the product is a moist chilled environment that would be suitable for growth of listeria. | |
| Drinking any alcohol during pregnancy could harm your baby |
