Marika Day: How to stay food safe during pregnancy

ARTICLE

01 June 2024

5 mins read

When you’re pregnant, good food safety is as essential as good nutrition. From heating all meats to strictly following an ingredient’s use-by date (no “she’ll be rights” allowed), AIA Eat Well ambassador and Accredited Practising Dietitian Marika Day offers her top tips to help you practise good food hygiene during pregnancy.

Congratulations on your pregnancy! It’s an exciting time filled with joy and anticipation (and often some anxiety) as you prepare to welcome your little one into the world. During my own pregnancy, I’ve learnt that one of the essential aspects of navigating this journey is making sure the food I eat is nutritious, yummy, and safe.

But what does food safety look like when you’re pregnant, and what are the risks?

Three risks of poor food safety

With alcohol, illicit drugs, smoking, and high intakes of caffeine, it’s easier to see a direct increase in risks to the unborn baby. For example, we know that drinking alcohol is linked to outcomes such as foetal alcohol syndrome, low birth weight, and miscarriage¹.

But food safety is a little different. Consuming high-risk foods doesn’t mean you will definitely get a foodborne illness. It simply increases the risk that you might get sick, and that if you do get sick, it might affect your baby. When you’re pregnant, your immune system finds it harder to fight off illness and infection, so it’s important to protect yourself and minimise the risk of three food poisoning organisms in particular.

Salmonella

Salmonella is one of the more common food poisoning organisms. It’s rare that your baby will be harmed if you become infected with salmonella. Instead, the risk is more for your own health as it can cause dehydration, fever, severe vomiting, and diarrhoea.

Listeria

The listeria bacteria can cause a rare infection called ‘listeriosis’. If you eat food that contains listeria, you’re not guaranteed to develop listeriosis, and in people who aren’t immunocompromised or pregnant it’s usually not a concern. But if you do become infected with listeriosis while pregnant, it can pass on to your unborn baby and lead to an increased risk of miscarriage, still birth, or premature labour.

Toxoplamosis

While rare in Australia, toxoplasmosis can cause blindness and brain damage in your baby. This parasite is more commonly linked to raw meat and cat faeces, which is why it’s not recommended that pregnant people clean the kitty litter.

Ultimately, the degree to which you practise food safety in pregnancy is up to the degree of risk you’re willing to expose yourself and your baby to, and a lot of external and personal factors will play into your decision, including your access to food and your comfort with cooking.

To help you learn about food safety and decide on the level of risk you’re comfortable with, Australian government departments such as the NSW Food Authority publish guidelines² to help keep pregnant people as safe as reasonably possible from foodborne illness, and I recommend you read them.

Wherever you land with your personal risk level, here are my top ten tips to practise good food safety in pregnancy.

1. Wash thoroughly

Before you prepare food, wash your hands well, and wash any surfaces, implements, and chopping boards.

2. Wash fruits and vegetables with running water

Washing your produce removes any physical dirt, which is where bacteria might be found. You don’t need to scrub your life away, but you should wash the fruits and veggies under running water until no dirt remains. Don’t let them soak in the water.

3. Eat only pasteurised dairy

Fortunately, in Australia, most dairy is pasteurised – except for some raw cheeses. Avoid soft-serve ice creams too (I worked at McDonald’s in a past life, so trust me on this one). For more information, I’ve previously explored why it’s important to avoid unpasteurised dairy and other foods during pregnancy.

4. Heat all deli meats

Fish and seafood can help you get enough long-chain omega-3 fatty acids in your diet, which are crucial for the development of bub’s brain. But it’s important to keep your mercury intake low, so limit fish and seafood to two to three 150g servings per week. That might look like a 150g barramundi fillet, a 150g salmon fillet, or four 90g cans of tuna (which contain 70g fish) per week. Limit catfish and orange roughly to one serve a week with no other fish, and flake, swordfish, and marlin to one serve a fortnight with no other fish.

5. Choose low-mercury fish

Fortunately, in Australia, most dairy is pasteurised – except for some raw cheeses. Avoid soft-serve ice creams too (I worked at McDonald’s in a past life, so trust me on this one). For more information, I’ve previously explored why it’s important to avoid unpasteurised dairy and other foods during pregnancy.

6. Avoid pre-made hot or cold foods

Pre-made foods are things like sushi, salads, sandwiches, and curries that have been sitting in a bain-marie or cabinet for an unknown length of time at an unknown temperature. Baked goods like muffins and croissants are completely fine, provided there’s no cream or custard on them.

7. Cook eggs

Heat eggs to the level of risk you’re comfortable with. I don’t recommend consuming raw eggs or products that contain raw eggs that haven’t been pasteurised, but how thoroughly you cook your eggs is up to you. In my pregnancy, I’ve been enjoying jammy poached eggs (so they’re mostly cooked) because that’s how I enjoy them and I’m willing to take the risk.

8. Don’t push the shelf life

Your pregnancy is not the time to think “she’ll be right”. If you have concerns about any food you’re preparing to eat, or you’re unsure how long it might have been stored for, or even if the expiry date is just a few days away – trust your instincts!

9. Cook meat and seafood

I generally recommend that you thoroughly cook any meat and seafood you want to eat. But the risk will vary depending on how fresh the produce is and how it has been stored and prepared. Some cultures embrace raw seafood during pregnancy. For me, it’s not something I feel I need to eat so I’ve avoided it, but you may decide the risks are low.

10. Store food safely

I shouldn’t need to say this, but I will because it’s so important. When you get home from grocery shopping, put food that needs to be cold in the fridge straight away. Put leftovers in the fridge as soon as they’ve stopped steaming. And defrost frozen food in the microwave or in the fridge – never on the bench.

And remember, if you’re ever in doubt, throw it out.

Footnotes

¹ https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/alcohol-and-pregnancy

² https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/consumer/life-events-and-food/pregnancy/pregnancy-and-food-safety

Marika Day

Marika Day is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and Nutritionist with over 10 years' experience in a variety of clinical and non-clinical areas. Her expertise and interests include gastrointestinal nutrition, which is influenced by her personal experience with coeliac disease. Additionally, she focuses on women’s health and the complexities of disordered and emotional eating. In addition to her clinical expertise, Marika regularly works in recipe development, helping people make nutritious choices every day. Her approach to nutrition is balanced, practical and empathetic and aims to help people enjoy food and live a healthy balanced life.

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