Foods to avoid

Hi! I'm a newbie here, and am really here to learn, as my good friend is expecting and I'm lost!
I am having her and her partner for dinner next week, and am a bit nervous about it. I know there are foods to avoid, like ham (why?), and I want to make sure that I know about these before I choose a meal to cook.
Help me! I don't know anything, and I so want to be a help to her.

Hi Missymiss and welcome to BB :)
Good on you for being a fantastic friend and wanting to be supportive and ensure you are helping :clap:

You need to avoid foods from the deli (like ham) as they may contain listeria...
as well as deli foods you also need to avoid
soft serve icecream
soft cheeses
raw meat or fish
some types of fish due to their mercury levels
Also no alcohol and limit caffeine
here is a link to some more information

Pregnancy and food safety | NSW Food Authority

I hope this helps

Thanks Sammiejane!

yep SJ is right.. thats what i would have said..and theres like meat pate (sp) and stuff.

your pretty right when it comes to tea tho, just make sure everything is steaming hot (this helps kill any nastys that may be lurking)

what about those hard cheddar tasty cheeses you can get from the market? are they safe?

I believe hard cheeses are fine. I'd be lost without my cheddar now!


Cooking kills the nasties, doesn't it? I confess I had a ham and cheese toasted sandwich yesterday, but I took the ham and I nuked it in the microwave until it was really cooked (um, actually it was kinda slightly burned). I figure that would have killed anything bad on it, right?

pmsl tenar!!!
yep you should be fine with cooked ham...

you can eat hard cheeses... most things on the list of banned foods are fine if cooked as the chance of the bacteria surviving is reduced... i used to have cooked camembert in chicken so i wasnt missing out lol