Foods to avoid when pregnant

• Raw seafood (such as oysters, sushi and sashimi) or cold cooked prawns);
• Soft cheeses such as blue, brie, camembert, feta and ricotta (these are safe if cooked and served hot);
• Cold meats(deli and pre-packed);
• Smoked seafood such as smoked salmon, smoked oysters (although canned smoked oysters are safe);
• Pate;
• Refrigerated foods that are past their ‘use by’ or ‘best before’ dates;
• Deli chickenTakeaway cooked and diced chicken (such as in chicken sandwiches from the deli);
• Unpasteurised dairy products Unpasteurised milk or food made from unpasteurised milk.;
• Pre-prepared salads or stored salads;

Safe food to eat when pregnant
Even though you do need to be careful, you don’t need to rule out all meat, seafood, chicken and salad.

These foods are ok:

* Food fully cooked to ‘steaming’ hot and eaten hot (eat meat well done, not rare)
* Freshly prepared salads (wash fruit and vegetables well before using them, store any leftovers immediately in the fridge and eat within a day)
* Home-cooked chicken (store any leftovers in the fridge straight away and eat hot within one day)
* Freshly cooked seafood
* Hard cheese, processed cheese, cheese spreads, plain cream cheese, plain cottage cheese
* Home-cooked cold meat eaten within 24 hours of cooking
* Pasteurised dairy products (milk, yoghurt, custard, packaged frozen ice-cream)
* Canned foods