Do you know anyone who has gotten listeria from food while pregnant?

[Anonymous]

What did they get it from? I am dying with the no lunch meat thing, I am 7 weeks and so sick the only thing that sounds good sometimes is a turky sandwich. I know I can heat it up but this maker me want to throw up thinking about it for some reason. Just wondering how often listeria is found in foods.

[Anonymous]

It can be found in deli meat (and the reason you want to stay away is that pregnant women are more likely to be infected - and the consequences can be dire for the fetus) - but - if you are eating non-processed roasted carved meat - like from a turkey - then I think you're OK - so, you can roast a turkey to get you're fix or go to one of the places that carve the meat from the bone for the sandwich.

http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancycomplications/listeria.html

[Anonymous]

If you are not pregnant listeriosis (illness from listeria bacteria) can show up as a few episodes of diarrhea and nothing more. That's happened to me plenty of times and I never really know what causes it, so I'm sure it could be listeria or it could be one of a million other things as well. I don't know anyone who has actually had complications from listeriosis while pregnant. I'm pretty sure it is another one of these overblown things women freak out about in order to increase the drama surrounding their pregnancy.

I did mostly stay away from deli meat during my pregnancy just in case, but I had one or two turkey sandwiches with no adverse effects. I think a lot has to do with whether the turkey has been adequately refrigerated before you eat it. You never know for sure but try to eat it from a place that seems to practice good food safety.

Also, I know you're grossed out by heating it up, but you don't have to actually eat it hot. If you heat it up and then put it directly in the fridge to cool off before you eat it, I bet that is fine. Don't let it cool on the counter, just put it directly in the fridge.

[Anonymous]

Don't know anyone but also didn't wantto be the first. Each person has to make their own determination about what they can and cannot do without. For me, I wasn't willing to give up caffeine but for the first trimester. Lunchmeat was not hard so while I eat in not pregnant, I could easily give it up. Same with sushi.

[Anonymous]

I've eaten some lunch meat with no problems (24 weeks preg). I think if you are careful about where you get it from and how it's stored, it would be okay. I've mostly toasted my sandwiches, but have eaten a little un-warmed as well.

[Anonymous]

I think this is a case where "i did it and i was fine" isn't really that helpful of an answer. Of course the vast majority of deli meat is not going to be contaminated with listeria and you will be fine if you eat that. The question is whether you want to gamble with your and your baby's health for an uncommon but very real and not necessarily rare threat. If you are the unlucky person who does get the listeria, the consequences will be far graver when pregnant than not.

I know that a friend asked her doctor if this was a real worry and he said he'd been in practice 20 years and seen it twice and that is was horrible. I don't want to be the one it happens to so I am okay avoiding it.

[Anonymous]

As much as I've craved it, I read an article recently that a pregnant woman is 20 times more like than a non-pregnant person to contact it. Seeing as it can cause miscarriage, I'm just trying to stay away. As a pp stated, you can eat REAL turkey without issue. My OB said everything in moderation, stay away but if you have to have it once in awhile just be careful.

[Anonymous]

some places have house roasted turkey or ham, balducci's has it. i've gotten that, you can get that in the deli but it is not the same as the "deli" meat that you aren't supposed to eat. it tastes just the same, in my opinion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As much as I've craved it, I read an article recently that a pregnant woman is 20 times more like than a non-pregnant person to contact it.

Yes. I'm not sure on the 20x figure as I don't recall the exact number, but pregnant women are significantly more likely than the general population to contact listeria. It is NOT a case of go to a nice deli and avoid it -- it is a risk, albeit a (relatively) small one. Soft serve also presents the same risk.

It is ok to heat the meat and then quick chill it, if that helps?

I'm not a big fan of the line about in moderation as this isn't really a cumulative thing -- each time you eat it, there's the risk -- not like nitrates or whatnot.

[Anonymous]

some places have house roasted turkey or ham, balducci's has it. i've gotten that, you can get that in the deli but it is not the same as the "deli" meat that you aren't supposed to eat. it tastes just the same, in my opinion.

If you mean you are buying the whole thing, like a whole roasted chicken, then yes. But if it is turkey roasted in house and sliced in the deli, then you shouldn't eat it unless you heat it first. The warning is not limited to particular meats from the deli. The listeria warning applies to ALL meats from grocery store & other delis. The issue is not the type of meat - any of it can be contaminated with listeria, and they do not disinfect the slicers between slicing different meats, so there is a risk of cross-contamination.

However, certain other deli meats should be avoided for reasons in addition to the listeria risk (so even if you heat them, you should really limit your intake) - those are things like cured meats like salami, pepperoni, etc because they are high in nitrates and sodium.

OP, to answer your question, I am pretty sure that a while back, there was in fact someone on this forum who had gotten listeria and lost her twins(?). Maybe someone else will be able to dig up the thread. Also, on another forum I belong to, another woman contracted listeria and lost her baby at 38 weeks. In that case, she was getting progressively sicker over several days and by the time she finally went to the hospital, it was too late; I'm not sure if they would have been able to do anything if she had been diagnosed more quickly. I think listeria is extremely rare but it does happen & is certainly not worth a turkey sandwich.

I know what you mean about being grossed out by heating lunchmeat - blech. I have eaten turkey only a couple of times with this pregnancy and when I did, I heated it up in the microwave first & then made a grilled turkey & cheese sandwich with honey mustard. It was pretty good!

[Anonymous]

FWIW there is a woman on my baby center "birth month" club who did lose a baby to it. I don't know details (whether it was lunch meat, something else etc). That said, I don't know anyone who's had it in "real life." I've avoided it anyway.

What's the difference between off-the-bone meat (ie Thanksgiving turkey) and deli, out of curiosity?

[Anonymous]

I don't know anyone personally (I don't know that means much, statistically, but that's what you asked), but there are 2 women on my pregnancy chat board (fertilityfriend.com) who had it, and both lost their babies to it in their third trimesters. By all accounts it is very rare, but when it does happen, the consequences are often grave (i.e. fetal death). I can only recall the source of the illness for one of the mom's -- she wrote that she ate contaminated cheese (and it wasn't an unpasteurized cheese, as best she knew) at an office party. Fell ill shortly after (not sure how many days) and her baby died within the week or possibly a few weeks. She was late 3rd tri, maybe 38 weeks or so. Tragic.

[Anonymous]

What's the difference between off-the-bone meat (ie Thanksgiving turkey) and deli, out of curiosity?

Well, turkey is turkey, but if you cook a Thanksgiving turkey at home, the heat kills any listeria that could be in the uncooked meat, and presumably there is no listeria bacteria lying around in your kitchen to contaminate it again so there's no way to get listeria onto the turkey.

In a commercial setting like a deli, cooked meat like turkey can come into contact with listeria after it's been cooked - when it's placed on a counter, in a slicer, handled by someone who just handled something else - if any of those items or surfaces had listeria on them from some other food, it will contaminate the turkey. They do make efforts to avoid cross-contamination, but if you observe a typical grocery store deli for a few minutes you will see how the work surfaces and slicers come into contact with many different foods and are not sterilized in between. Again, most likely there's no listeria in the deli and nothing is contaminated, but if one thing is contaminated, that would be enough to contaminate other foods.

[Anonymous]

Yes. Me. I posted in response to this string:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/70112.page#516322

[Anonymous]

I had read that if you heat the meat to steaming, you're fine. Maybe that's idiotic of me, but I've done that several times during this pregnancy. By the time it has gone 10 seconds in my microwave it is steaming. And within a minute on the counter it is lukewarm again.

I'm 8 months into pregnancy #2. I had no idea about pepperoni... I wish someone would publish a list of what you CAN eat when pregnant. It'd be a hell of a lot easier to manage. Ugh.