cheese please

December 25, 2008 11:16 AM

Cheese present for pregnant sister, which are safe?

I got my sister-in-law a present of various cheese types for christmas and need to know which are safe to give her now that I have found out she is pregnant.

I have: a 5-year aged cheddar and a soft triple cream brillat savain rouzaire which both say they are pasteurized, so I assume they are safe.

Questionable ones are: a 5-year aged Gouda (does not say its pasteurized, but is very very old), and a st. felix capri goat cheese, the store saleswoman told me this was pasteurized, but the internet says it's not.

Does anyone know whether these last two are safe, or have any warnings about the first two? I am a little concerned about the soft triple cream one, knowing that the saleswoman had mislabeled the other cheese as pasteurized, could this one be mislabeled as well?

posted by speef to Food & Drink (10 answers total)

I'll just add that according to the FDA and pretty much every reputable source, any pasteurized cheese is okay (triple cream, blue, whatever). However, my obstetrician still instists that a pregnant woman should NEVER eat soft cheese with a rind, goat cheese, feta or any blue cheese. In my opinion this is crazy talk, but be prepared for your sister-in-law to not eat the cheese even if you think it's safe.
posted by robinpME at 11:54 AM on December 25, 2008

Anything pasteurized is safe - it's the listeria of unpasteurized soft cheeses that pregnant women are trying to avoid (because it can cause miscarriage). If you like goat cheese, keep it as that is on the "iffy" list, else give it to her with the explicit note that you have no idea if it is pasteurized or not so she can make an informed decision. The others sound fine, gouda is pasturized.
posted by dabitch at 12:17 PM on December 25, 2008

Yeah, ditto on what robinpME said. Almost any cheese is safe but OBs, especially in the US, err quite strongly on the side of precaution, to the extent (IMO) of fear-mongering. Your sister has about a .0488% chance of getting listeria (6,000,000 pregnancies in the US, 2500 cases of listeria). When you compare that to her chances of getting into a fatal car accident (almost quadruple the chances of getting listeria), I don't understand why OBs don't forbid car rides for pregnant women.

I avoided soft cheeses when pregnant the first time. During my second pregnancy I've eaten every cheese I could lay my hands on (including some soft exotics). It's more about what your sister's comfort level is.
posted by cocoagirl at 12:33 PM on December 25, 2008

Soft cheeses are supposed to be no-nos, even if pasteurized. However, many people don't believe this.

Your SIL is likely to look up this stuff herself and/or ask her OB, no matter what you say. :)
posted by k8t at 12:49 PM on December 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

My math is off above, but the correct percentage is even more in favor of eating cheese: of the 2500 people per year who get listeria, 27% are pregnant women, so your sister has .011% chances of getting listeria (675 women out of 6M pregnant women).
posted by cocoagirl at 1:14 PM on December 25, 2008

Since I'm an old lady (my youngest kid is 28) I never heard that pregnant women should not eat certain cheeses. This seems like bad news for Greeks and others for whom feta and other cheeses are staples. But then when I had my kids, doctors did not forbid drinking or smoking let alone any foods. It was pretty much if something makes you nauseous don't eat it. And my kids turned out very healthy. I never smoked but drank a little wine once in a while. And ate anything I wanted. Coffee made me sick so I avoided it.

Hexatron's Wife
posted by hexatron at 2:45 PM on December 25, 2008 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Those cheeses are fine; unpasteurized cheese that are less than 60 days old are illegal to sell in the U.S. Soft, pasteurized cheeses should also be fine, but I'd leave that up to her comfort level. Millions of pregnant European women eat soft cheeses, so....
posted by rtha at 3:42 PM on December 25, 2008

May I respectfully suggest that your sister-in-law is a big girl, and can decide for herself which of the cheeses she would feel safe eating during her pregnancy? If you've already purchased them, just give them to her as you had originally planned. Pregnant women are not incapable of making their own health and eating decisions. (Speaking as someone who almost had to choke a bitch at a deli when she suggested I shouldn't be eating sandwich meats while pregnant.)
posted by peep at 8:06 PM on December 25, 2008

Response by poster: peep - I'm not making her decisions for her; she mentioned before gift exchanging that she couldn't eat unpasteurized cheeses and has gotten a lot of them from relatives, which made her very sad as she loves cheeses. I wanted to know which ones are pasteurized so I could give her the basket with a happy note that they are all up to her standards, leaving out ones she can only look at longingly.

A quick google search had produced many opinions and little facts varying from 'eat all cheese!' to 'eat nothing imported and nothing soft!', so tidbits about gouda always being pasteurized as well as any imported young cheeses were very helpful, thanks.
posted by speef at 8:22 PM on December 25, 2008

The 5 year cheddar should be totally fine and TOTALLY delicious. I've had pregnant friends with pretty strong cheese cravings and recall seeing cheddar around their homes.

(Note: I know for a fact that swiss cheese [ie, Ementhaler] is ok - one friend craved so much swiss cheese during her pregnancy that she swears her daughter is made of cheese.)
posted by grapefruitmoon at 9:24 AM on December 26, 2008