cheese???

[Anonymous]

Soft cheeses made from unpasteurized (or raw) milk are what you need to avoid. Under federal law, it is illegal in the US to sell or manufacture raw milk cheese that has been aged for less than 60 days--i.e. soft raw milk cheese. Raw milk cheeses that have been aged for 60 days (which are the ones they sell at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, I'm guessing) are usually not soft cheeses and do not pose the same risk of listeriosis. It is so annoying to me that there is so much misinformation out there about cheese and pregnancy! The only time I have been careful about soft cheese is when I went to visit a friend in London this fall. In Europe soft raw milk cheeses are pretty common. Here's a link that explains some of this: http://www.webmd.com/baby/news/20031105/pasteurized-soft-cheese-ok-in-pregnancy

[Anonymous]

Yes, cheese must be soft AND unpasteurized to be considered potentially harmful. It is nearly impossible to find this type of cheese here in the US, mostly because it is illegal! Raw milk cheeses that you see sold in whole foods or other natural food stores, have been aged over 60 days as required by law. The aging process eliminates the liklihood of any dangerous bacteria surviving. During my pregnancies I ate any cheese I wanted.

[Anonymous]

Whenever this topic comes up, someone always falls back on the "Europe defense." Other cultures eat it with abandon, so it must be okay.

But I'm curious to know what the statistics are for European countries where soft cheese, sausage, wine is consumed without much concern. I've been caught on the wrong side of fertility/pregnancy statistics several times already. I don't want to follow the practises of another country without knowing if they've actually paid the penalty for eating potentially contaminated foods.