# PREGNANCY - Safe food during pregnancy



## ready4Family (May 14, 2004)

At the end of Aug, I got a positive.  (I'm still in shock).  I've been reading up on foods to eat and foods to avoid and I'm wondering if the following are safe:
a)  ricotta cheese (hard cheeses are good, soft unpasterized are bad...not sure where ricotta falls).
b)  herring in a jar (herring is good, but is it ok if it's refridgerated in a vinager type liquid...lox isn't)

Thanks,
It's all very confusing.


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## Ruth (Aug 6, 2004)

My motto is "If in doubt, don´t eat"!!!!
Am also not sure on Ricotta but best to avoid if unsure. Herrings sound OK.
It´s basically avoiding things which have uncooked things in them as all food should be well cooked to kill off any bacteria.

Ruth


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## suzy (Oct 12, 2003)

Hi R4F,

Ricotta is not recommended in pregnancy because its not pasteurized, neither is feta - both are OK if cooked though, say in pasta.

Suzy


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## ready4Family (May 14, 2004)

Thanks for your responses.

Suzy, so if ricotta cheese is in a frozen lasagna (which is the particular food i was wondering about), then it's ok?

This is all so confusing.


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## Jayne (Jan 26, 2003)

If you cook the unpasteurised cheese, then essentially the high temperatures will pasteurise it and kill off any potentially harmful bacteria.  So unpasteurised cheese is safe if used in cooking.  

With regards to feta, you can get a pasteurised feta, but just need to check the packaging for which type it is.  

Herring is fine, so long as it's cooked and not pickled raw, thus allowing the acid in the vinegar to 'cook' it.  

Hope this helps a bit. 

Jayne x


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