Your Questions Answered
Is it safe to eat soft cheese when you are pregnant?
The concern about eating soft cheese in pregnancy is related to a bacterium that can be present in unpasteurized soft cheeses and other unpasteurized dairy products called Listeriosis. Some examples of soft cheeses may include Brie, Camembert, feta, goat, and Limburger. Semi-soft cheese may include Asiago, Bleu, Gorgonzola, Havarti, and Muenster. Cases of listeria infection in the U.S. are rare, however.
In a healthy adult, listeriosis can cause a flulike illness. During pregnancy, a woman’s immune system is altered which can make her more susceptible to illness and often be hit harder by infection. Although the effects of this illness are not completely understood, scientists believe there is a link between listeria infection and miscarriages and stillbirths.
Symptoms of infection may include fever, chills, muscle aches, and back pain. Symptoms usually develop several weeks after exposure, although the incubation period can be as long as 10 weeks, making diagnosis difficult.
- Before eliminating all cheese from your diet, consider the following:
- Cheese made in the United States must be made from pasteurized milk. (Pasteurization kills the listeria organism.)
- Imported cheese made from raw (unpasteurized) milk must be aged for 60 days, a process that should eliminate any potentially dangerous bacteria.
- Listeria is not found in hard cheese, such as cheddar, or in processed dairy products such as cottage cheese or yogurt.
Although listeria infection is rare, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the FDA both advise pregnant women to avoid unpasteurized soft and semi-soft cheeses.