no, not another name thread... this is a cheese question :)

[Anonymous]

I recently saw specifically labelled non-pasteurized parmesean. Isn't that weird? I figure it's still ok since it's a hard cheese-don't you think?

[Anonymous]

Pasteurized blue cheese is fine.

I'd think that, in terms of unpasteurized cheese, hard is safer than soft. At least, that was my rationale for eating hard cheeses while in Italy and pregnant, while skipping the soft ones.

[Anonymous]

I think a lot of advice to pregnant women inaccurately and insultingly tries to "simplify" the rule against eating unpasteurized cheese by saying to avoid "soft" cheese. But as I understand it, there is no problem with soft cheese at all, it's unpasteurized cheese you have to watch out for. Some particular types of soft cheese, like queso fresco, are more likely to be unpasteurized, but I have seen unpasteurized hard cheese at Whole Foods and on charcuterie plates at restaurants too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No reason to avoid pasteurized cheese. And actually, women in Europe eat the non-pasteurized stuff as well. Enjoy your cheese.

What are you basing this on? Europe has the same guidelines, I just checked Germany, and even France does: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fromage_au_lait_cru#Fromage_au_lait_cru_et_grossesse

The French internet is full of discussions about this as well.

Not to say that everybody follows those recommendations, but neither does every American.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think a lot of advice to pregnant women inaccurately and insultingly tries to "simplify" the rule against eating unpasteurized cheese by saying to avoid "soft" cheese. But as I understand it, there is no problem with soft cheese at all, it's unpasteurized cheese you have to watch out for. Some particular types of soft cheese, like queso fresco, are more likely to be unpasteurized, but I have seen unpasteurized hard cheese at Whole Foods and on charcuterie plates at restaurants too.

I agree. The CDC website states any pasteurized cheese is fine, including soft cheeses and cream cheese - again as long as they're pasteurized. Pasteurization info is prominently on the label of cheese.

[Anonymous]

I ate blue cheese with no problem while pregnant.

I would make a salad at home though. You're more likely to get ecoli from cross contamination of the lettuce leaves than lysteria from the blue cheese.