When preparing food while pregnant, one needs to be extra careful as food-borne illnesses may have potentially harmful consequences on a fetus. This is because the immune system of babies and toddlers are not yet fully developed and may take longer to fight infections than older children. Of course, since the immunity against illnesses may actually not be at its peak during pregnancy for many women, it’s especially important to always practice good hygiene by washing hands regularly when in contact with food.
Pets
When you come into contact with pets, you are prone to picking up harmful bacteria that may be present in their feces. While it’s important to wash your hands after petting a dog or cat, this is of paramount importance if you have children.
Kitty litter is an important resource, so be careful when handling it. You never want to run the risk of getting an infection such as toxoplasmosis via kitty litter – a condition that can be contracted by being in contact with infected cat feces. If you have a cat, ensure that someone else carries out this task or wear rubber gloves if you have to do it yourself (remember to wash your hands immediately after). This also applies when gardening where human feces may be present. Human fecal matter is potentially just as dangerous as cat fecal matter, so don’t let your guard down even when gardening!
Toxoplasmosis can be caused by a parasite. When you first have this infection, there may be no symptoms, or they could be very slight. If you are very healthy and do not have immune problems, then toxoplasmosis should go away on its own – you don’t need to take any kind of medicine for it. You will not get toxoplasmosis again afterwards and would have become immune after your body fights the disease off.
Listeria
This is a bacteria that develops when one is not able to practice hygiene properly, or if their immune system has been compromised. It is essentially a slang term for “food poisoning.” Symptoms of listeriosis include slight flu-like symptoms, aches and pains, sore throat, and fever due to high temperatures. In rare cases, it can cause septicemia (or blood poisoning) and meningitis during pregnancy. This can be quite serious in babies as well. Make sure you’re practicing proper hygiene since this helps prevent listeria contamination all around!
After eating food that’s been contaminated by bacteria, symptoms can manifest within 1 to 3 days. Some of the most common symptoms are diarrhea and fever.
Foods to Avoid
Cheese
Not all cheeses are the same when it comes to bacteria or pathogens. You should always be wary of soft cheeses with rinds or normally covered in wax such as Gouda, Post Salut which can contain harmful bacteria like E coli. While hard cheese is usually okay with a few exceptions such as Cheddar, Parmesan, and Red Leicester since some types of soft cheese are made from pasteurized milk, so you can still eat things like cottage cheese, mozzarella and processed cheese. To make things easier, just avoid any type of blue cheese such as Stilton, Gorgonzola and Roquefort altogether.
Eggs
Salmonella can be found on raw or partly cooked eggs. The bacteria are not destroyed even if the egg is hard-boiled.You could get salmonella poisoning from eating foods made with raw or partly cooked eggs, such as homemade mayonnaise, meringues, and sorbets.
Milk
Avoid all products which have not been pasteurized. Be especially cautious of raw or undercooked meats and products containing unpasteurized milk or cheese to avoid the risk of food poisoning from such sources.
Meat
It’s important to cook your meat thoroughly. Doing so will ensure that the best meat ingredients are making their way into the stew, and not lead to anybody getting touch of a food-borne illness due to incomplete preparation. Always bear in mind that a customer is like an open book: they can tell when something doesn’t seem right or is perhaps off, no matter how hard you try to hide it. So there’s never a need to succumb to trying your customer’s patience – if you work out all the details before presenting them in front of an audience, then so much the better! And remember: stay healthy by not eating raw or undercooked meat or poultry and by staying away from preserved meats such as salami, frankfurters and luncheon meat. If you do find yourself handling raw meats, make sure you wash your hands thoroughly before touching any other foods!
Seafood
Avoid consuming raw or uncooked seafood like oysters and any shelled seafood such as crab, prawn, or langoustine. Most seafood that is available from a fishmonger (seller of fish) or supermarket should be safe but make it a practice not to consume tuna and swordfish in particular due to mercury levels. Canned tuna has lower levels, so you are fine eating this once a week.
Salads
Shop-bought salad can be dangerous. All salads that come dressed in stores should be avoided. This includes coleslaw, potato salad, and Florida salad. If you are going to eat out of a box, at least you can only have leaves from healthy plants loaded with nutrients, vitamins and minerals and again avoid the dressings when all is said and done because it creates a lot of salt content that could get some diabetes into your life early on if not stopped.
