The Big Cheese scare- ... is it an imported concern????

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That's not quite true HotI. There are other variables which need to be taken into account when looking at the road toll statistics versus maternal/fetal deaths due to listeria. You need to look at how many pregnant women are killed each year within those road toll figures to make a more accurate comparison.

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Only if pregnancy affects your chances of being killed in a car accident, which is possible cos you are less likely to be male, drinking alcohol ...

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So if Australia has a population of 20 million, that gives approx 60 cases of listerosis per year in Australia.

There are approx 250,000 births per year in Australia. Therefore, 4.6 x 2.5 = 11.5 maternal-foetal listerosis infections/year

There are approx 1500 fatalities from road accidents each year in Australia.

So, statistically you are 100 times more likely to die in a car accident than by infected by listeria during pregnancy.

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I doubt that knowing that only 10.5 other mothers lost their babies because of listeria is much comfort to the mothers who do lose their babies.

The data was on infections, not deaths due to listeria.

I largely chose not to eat the high risk listeria foods during pregnancy, but i do think the risk of listeriosis is overstated, with many women feeling guilt over their diet and have their diet questioned by family members or media, but continue other behaviours where the risk of damage to mum or baby may be higher.

Thanks for the calculations HotI, that is always how I look at risk, everything has a risk so I find it easier to compare the level of risk and then make a decision. ( I chose to eat pretty much whatever but was more careful about hygeine standards, e.g no morning tea buffets at work that had been stood round forever etc) and I have to say the fact other countries Spain, France, Japan etc eating foods considered high risk here did weigh into my decision). What I also found interesting is that foods often end up on that list that you get given at docs etc, due to one specific outbreak and are never removed, so the list is just getting bigger and bigger. E.g Alfafa sprouts ended up on there after a specific incident. Europe had an issue I think with cucumbers last year etc. If things keep getting added without clear indication of risk (or even clearly stating whether is listeria,salmonella etc) from that specific item, it limits our ability to have a choice having all lumped in together. Soon we wouldn't be able to eat anything.

On the figures it is also entirely possible that those maternal infections were not from foods considered to be high risk for listeria.

Something many probably don't know is that even if the milk is pasteurized before the cheese is manufactured, lysteria can still develop in the cheese due to contaminated equipment used during the cheese making process.

So after its been pasteurised, the milk is pumped through pipes and into vats that may have not been cleaned properly, or been contaminated from vermin.

It's very common. They detect listeria and salmonella at my dads work all the time. Yuck hey ;)