Craving cheese?

Bye-bye to wine and blue cheese, sob sob… or? Perhaps you are not sad about this, but if you happen to be a passionate cheese-lover, this could feel like quite the sacrifice. But with so many things when you are pregnant, you just have to accept the situation and look at the big picture. And you don’t have to live a cheese-free life!

There are many kinds of cheese you can eat without any problems when you are pregnant. It’s about the pH of the cheese: the more acid the better, as the bacteria won’t like it. All cheeses that have been heated up and become bubbly are considered risk-free as the bacteria are killed in the heating process. This also applies to unpasteurized cheese which normally wouldn’t be OK. The cheese must be heated to at least 70 degrees to kill the listeria bacteria as well. Be sure to practice good hygiene and store cheeses at the right temperature.

Cheeses you can eat

• Regular hard cheese such as herrgårdsost, grevé and prästost.
• Soft cheese and other spreadable cheese.
• Aged parmesan – any bacteria that die during the aging process.
• Feta cheese is made from pasteurized milk.
• Mozzarella, Ricotta, and Halloumi (newly packed) are risk-free as the milk is heated during cooking. Newly packed means that the product has not passed 2/3 of the time from the packaging date to the best-before-date.
• All cheeses heated until bubbly, e.g. sauces and gratins.

Cheeses you should avoid

• Blue cheese and dessert cheeses such as Brie, Camembert, and Gorgonzola. These are made from unpasteurized milk, which might contain listeria bacteria.
• Washed rind cheese such as Vacherol, Reblochon, Taleggio, and Munster; is made from pasteurized and unpasteurized milk.
• Fresh cheese (except for the one that is packed in a box because it is heated during the manufacture) and other soft cheese as these are produced from unpasteurized milk.
• Feta cheese is made from unpasteurized milk.