What about cooked cold prawns

I always thought they were o.k. but after reading a thread posted earlier, I'm not too sure now. Does anyone know for sure?

I thought all prawns (all shellfish) were supposed to be out?

No, they are not considered safe.

I think they are okay if you buy them raw and cook them youself and eat them piping hot, Im going to find out for sure first though before I do it.

I'm thinking of doing that, making a prawn and leek flan my MIL gave me the receipe for, but using raw frozen prawns, and cooking them from scratch and eating them when they are still really hot, not reaheating at all or eating warm or cool.

Everyone else coming to my 20 person Christmas is eating ham off the bone, BBQ chickens, and prawn ****tails :( :( All out for me.

While we are on the subject...so many people say 'it's so rare, it's unlikely' but I was thinking...they dont' actually test every woman that has miscarried or lost a baby for listeria routinely do they? For that reason, I don't take the risk, maybe it's much more common than we think.

When I last had babies, they just told you to avoid organ meats and soft cheeses, not there is so much on the list!:eek:

Ive been eating raw prawns marinated and cooked on the BBQ (hot) - No problems so far, I think heat kills any sort of bacteria that can harm our babies, im going to put my already smoked xmas ham in the webber and cook it a little more too which i think will be fine.
BTW Caro - I totally agree with you with being over the top! I think if you are sensible and eat what you feel like, but also don't be silly and eat raw oysters from a dodgy place etc we will be fine.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there a BT you can get to see if you are immune to Listeria... (maybe I am thinking of the other pamphlet I was given). From what I understand, once you have had it, it is like chickenpox, you are basically imune to it, and there is a BT you can get to see if you have had it or not... Hmmm I might ust go find the pamphlet and see if I am right. I know there is something that can cause harm to our babies that we can get a BT done to see if we have had it already.. That might be the tox(something) thing.. sorry can't think of it right now (preggy brain, lol)

Edit: Ok i'm wrong... it is toxoplasmosis that you can have a BT to see you if you immune to it.. sorry ladies.. but Toxoplasmosis can also be caught the same way as listeria... just read the pamphlet.

I eat prawns but only if i have brought them fresh, raw and cooked them myself - this way I am happy prior to eating them. I am eating ham on christmas day, but again, it will be heated to piping hot before eating. Would reheating the BBQ chicken to piping hot be okay? I am undecided on the chicken thing. I think you just have to be sensible with what you eat, don't eat something you are unsure about. Otherwise we'd live in a bubble!

Me too Caro - thats why I still enjoy ham and seafood, but make sure its cooked - I don't deny myself altogether! lol

You are not likely to find any fresh prawns in Australia guys unless you catch them yourself. Prawns are frozen out at sea on the boat and when they have them "fresh" (even the fish markets) they have been thawed out. You are much much safer to buy them from somewhere still frozen.

Personally I got mine from work (I work for a food wholesaler), took them home completely frozen, thawed them & ate whilst they were still cold. The listeria bacteria becomes dormant when frozen & my Dr said I was fine to eat the prawns as long as I had them while they were still cold after being frozen ie let them thaw but not get to even room temperature IYKWIM.

Rachel, yes reheating a chicken is fine as long as it's PIPING HOT.

That's right Sarah, it makes me angry that they don't tell people that at deli's like woolworths, etc. So many people buy them, and take them home and refreeze them, totally unaware that they have already been frozen and thawed out. I asked once as I was annoyed that it wasn't obvious and they ummed and ahhed and said, yes, it's been thawed. The only way I'm going to feel safe is buying already frozen and not thawed frozen green prawns from somewhere, but I feel dodge even about that.

What also annoys me before I was pregnant is that the local woolworths now keeps their BBQ chickens in this self-serve thing away from the deli. I saw this, and thought, I'm not getting one from here, someone could have been walking aroudn the whole shop with it and let it cool down and then changed their minds, plus the open aired heating bothered me. So I went to the counter and asked for one from there, they pointed to the self serve thing, and I told them I wasn't getting one from there, that it wasn't safe and they couldnt' guarantee that. So they grumbled and bagged me one from behind the counter...I got worried later they might have spat on it or something lol.

I know there's such a thing as over the top, but that's the thing, testing for listeria apparently it's not a routine test done on women that lose babies or go into preterm labour, that's why I don't take the 'rare' thing very seriously. Apparently a high percentage of food has listeria, but most people don't get sick from it, but when you are pregnant you have a much higher risk of being affected with it, something about immunity and it's worse in third trimester. I've had too many scares with this pregnancy, and I've had a hind water rupture, it would seem ludicrous for me to risk anything more for any food thats on the forbidden list - even if it does seem extreme. I think it's largely an emotional thing depending on one's pregnancy and ease of getting there or previous problems or lack of - so what one considers over the top is perfectly rational for another...so that's why I'm being 'over the top' in other peoples terms I guess.

I dont eat seafood, but if I did, I dont think I would eat it cold. I would heat up the prawns before eating them just to be on the safer side. I've eaten ham during my pregnancy, but I've heated it up and eaten it hot. I read somewhere that you dont always get symptoms if you get listeria, so you might not know if you have it, and since our immune systems are lower during pregnancy, I am trying to be 'safe' with the food I eat.