Is eating lunch meat while pregnant an acceptable risk?

[Anonymous]

I had a listeria scare this pregnancy. It came from frozen waffles!

I just ate a ham sandwich for lunch. As other PP's have said, most recalls aren't to deli meat these days.

Just try to eat stuff that you can verify is fresh and of good quality. That's what I do at least.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for the replies. I was curious, so I took a look at FDA's website for recalls. It looks like only two months of data, but here's the foods recalled for possible listeria:

queso fresco
cashews
macademia Nuts
queso fresco
burritos
white cheese
spinach
chicken and waffle sandwich
pancakes, waffles, toast
cashew butter
organic basil pesto
smoked fish
sweet peas.

So...no lunch meat. Not indicative of much, just interesting

[Anonymous]

I remember eating a wrap that had alfafa sprouts on it once while I was pregnant. I was half way through it when it dawned on me that alfafa sprouts were on the "forbidden" food list for some reason (I can't even remember why).

I agree with the others - should be fine.

[Anonymous]

listeria is one of those scary things that pops up so randomly that I just did what I wanted. I did skip mexican cheese -- that seems to have a lot of recalls consistently.

[Anonymous]

I would be a genius today if it weren't for mom's dang burn bologna cravings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Most listeria cases recently have come from things you aren't even told to avoid, like yogurt and spinach. I ate plenty of Italian subs.

OMG that sounds so good right now...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Most listeria cases recently have come from things you aren't even told to avoid, like yogurt and spinach. I ate plenty of Italian subs.

OMG that sounds so good right now...

I ate so many Potbelly sandwiches the cashier called me "Pepper." (I adore their hot peppers.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for the replies. I was curious, so I took a look at FDA's website for recalls. It looks like only two months of data, but here's the foods recalled for possible listeria:

queso fresco
cashews
macademia Nuts
queso fresco
burritos
white cheese
spinach
chicken and waffle sandwich
pancakes, waffles, toast
cashew butter
organic basil pesto
smoked fish
sweet peas.

So...no lunch meat. Not indicative of much, just interesting

Queso fresco/white cheese is the most common culprit, as you can see. I avoided that, raw shellfish, high mercury fish, and maybe one or two other things (though not reputable sushi, deli meat, or raw fruits or vegetables).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for the replies. I was curious, so I took a look at FDA's website for recalls. It looks like only two months of data, but here's the foods recalled for possible listeria:

queso fresco
cashews
macademia Nuts
queso fresco
burritos
white cheese
spinach
chicken and waffle sandwich
pancakes, waffles, toast
cashew butter
organic basil pesto
smoked fish
sweet peas.

So...no lunch meat. Not indicative of much, just interesting

I looked at 2015-2017 FDA recall data because I'm the type of person who takes things too far. Out of 1170 recalls of food; 253 were listeria related. The main culprits for listeria related recalls since 2015 seem to be
Various cheeses (32 recalls)
Sunflower seed / kernel products (29 recalls)
Frozen veggies (18 recalls)
ice cream (12 recalls)

Unless I've missed something, I see no deli meat. That doesn't mean there's not a risk, but it's looking safer to me.

[Anonymous]

My dr said not to eat meat thats has been sitting around all day, subway, stuff like that

[Anonymous]

I got food poisoning from a salad at 28 weeks pregnant. After that, I ate the dang sandwiches. You are more likely to get sick from vegetables and fruit than meat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, I read that there are 2500 cases of Listeriosis each year in the US, and 30% of those cases are pregnant women (750 cases).
https://www.thebump.com/a/is-lunch-meat-safe-during-pregnancy

There are 6.1 million pregnancies in the US each year.

So approximately 750 women out of 6,100,000 get listeriosis, and it's not definitive whether that was caused by eating lunch meat.

That seems like a shockingly small risk, no? I can give into my cravings, yes?

Just microwave it for a few seconds before you eat it.

I agree that those risks are very low. If you were presenting the same risks without an easy solution (e.g. you were on a camping trip so no microwave), I'd agree with you that it wouldn't be worth it, but frankly warm lunch meat is delicious so I don't see it as a hardship to nuke it.

[Anonymous]

Did anybody eat chicken salad from a restaurant? I've been craving the chicken salad at founding farmers!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for the replies. I was curious, so I took a look at FDA's website for recalls. It looks like only two months of data, but here's the foods recalled for possible listeria:

queso fresco
cashews
macademia Nuts
queso fresco
burritos
white cheese
spinach
chicken and waffle sandwich
pancakes, waffles, toast
cashew butter
organic basil pesto
smoked fish
sweet peas.

So...no lunch meat. Not indicative of much, just interesting

Queso fresco/white cheese is the most common culprit, as you can see. I avoided that, raw shellfish, high mercury fish, and maybe one or two other things (though not reputable sushi, deli meat, or raw fruits or vegetables).

Dumb question, but what is "white cheese"? Is that like white cheddar, white american? Or feta, goat cheese, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for the replies. I was curious, so I took a look at FDA's website for recalls. It looks like only two months of data, but here's the foods recalled for possible listeria:

queso fresco
cashews
macademia Nuts
queso fresco
burritos
white cheese
spinach
chicken and waffle sandwich
pancakes, waffles, toast
cashew butter
organic basil pesto
smoked fish
sweet peas.

So...no lunch meat. Not indicative of much, just interesting

Queso fresco/white cheese is the most common culprit, as you can see. I avoided that, raw shellfish, high mercury fish, and maybe one or two other things (though not reputable sushi, deli meat, or raw fruits or vegetables).

Dumb question, but what is "white cheese"? Is that like white cheddar, white american? Or feta, goat cheese, etc.

The risk is specifically raw/unpasteurized cheeses. Just make sure the cheese is pasteurized.