pregnancy food items

Foods to eat or avoid when pregnant

Use this handy guide to assist in making decisions about what to eat and what to avoid during pregnancy.
It highlights some foods that are not recommended for pregnant women.
Foods to avoid are listed for a range of reasons, but in most cases there is a higher risk those foods may contain harmful bacteria such as listeria or salmonella.
Red = Don't eat.   Yellow = Eat with caution.   Green = OK to eat.

Meat, Poultry & Seafood
Food	Form	What to do
Processed meats	Ham, salami, luncheon, chicken meat etc	DON"T EAT
Raw meat	Any raw meat, raw chicken or other poultry, beef, pork etc	DON'T EAT
Poultry	Cold chicken or turkey, eg used in sandwich bars	DON'T EAT
	Hot take-away chicken	Purchase freshly cooked and eat while hot. Store leftovers in fridge to reheat and use within a day of cooking
	Home cooked	Ensure chicken is cooked thoroughly and eat while hot. Store any leftovers in fridge to reheat and use within a day of cooking
Paté	Refrigerated paté or meat spreads	DON'T EAT
Seafood	Raw seafood	DON'T EAT
	Ready-to-eat chilled peeled prawns	DON'T EAT
	Cooked fish and seafood	Cook thoroughly until steaming and eat while hot. Store leftovers in the fridge to reheat and use within a day of cooking
Sushi	Store-bought	DON'T EAT
	Home-made	Don't use raw meat or seafood, eat immediately
Cooked meats	Beef, pork, chicken, mince	Cook thoroughly, eat while hot
Dairy & Eggs
Food	Form	What to do
Cheese	Soft and semi-soft cheese, eg brie, camembert, ricotta, fetta, blue etc	DON'T EAT
	Processed cheese, cheese spreads, cottage cheese, cream cheese etc	Store in the fridge, eat within two days of opening pack
	Hard cheese, eg cheddar, tasty cheese	Store in the fridge
Ice-cream	Soft serve	DON'T EAT
	Fried ice-cream	DON'T EAT
	Packaged frozen ice-cream	Keep and eat frozen
Dairy	Unpasteurised (raw)	DON'T DRINK OR USE
	Pasteurised, eg milk, cream, yoghurt	Check 'best before' or 'use-by' date. Follow storage instructions
Custard	Store-bought	Can be eaten cold if freshly opened. Store in fridge to reheat and use within a day of opening. Check 'best before' or 'use-by' date
	Home-made	Cook thoroughly and eat while hot. Store in fridge. Always reheat and use within a day of making
Eggs	Cooked egg dished eg fried eggs, scrambled eggs, quiche	Cook thoroughly. Don't use cracked or dirty eggs
	Raw in food eg home-made mayonnaise, chocolate mousse, aioli	DON'T EAT
	In non-refrigerated commercial products eg mayonnaise, aioli	Check 'best-before' or use-by' date. Follow storage instructions
Vegetables & Fruit
Food	Form	What to do
Salads	Pre-prepared or pre-packaged salads including fruit salad, eg from salad bars, smorgasbords	DON'T EAT
	Home-made	Wash salad ingredients well just before making and eating salads, store any leftover salads in fridge and use within a day of preparation
Fruit	Whole fresh fruits	Wash well before eating
Vegetables and herbs	Fresh vegetables and herbs	Wash well just before eating raw or wash before cooking
	Frozen vegetables	Cook, don't eat uncooked
Bean sprouts	Alfalfa sprouts, broccoli sprouts, onion sprouts, sunflower sprouts, clover sprouts, radish sprouts, snowpea sprouts, mung beans and soybean sprouts	DON'T EAT raw or lightly cooked
Other Foods
Food	Form	What to do
Leftovers	Cooked foods	Store leftovers covered in the fridge, eat within a day and always reheat until steaming hot
Canned foods	Tinned fruit, vegetables, fish etc	Store unused portions in the fridge in clean, sealed containers
Stuffing	Stuffing from chicken or poultry	DON'T EAT unless cooked separately and eat hot
Hommus	Store-bought or home-made	Store in fridge, eat within two days of opening or making
Soy	All soy products, eg tofu, soy milk, soy yoghurt etc	Check 'best before' or 'use-by' date. Follow storage instructions