Cheese and Pregnancy

Neal’s Yard Dairy does not offer medical advice on cheese and pregnancy: we can, however, share with our customers what we know about cheese.

Women can still eat cheese during pregnancy, but should avoid soft, semi-soft and blue cheeses, which may contain Listeria monocytogenes, a bacterium causing Listeriosis.
Listeria does not occur naturally in milk or cheese; instead, its presence indicates contamination of either the raw material (milk) or environment (cheesemaking equipment or ripening areas). We take all due care to ensure our cheeses meet uncompromising safety standards so as to minimise this risk, but we would advise pregnant or immunocompromised customers as follows:

The best way to eat cheese safely during pregnancy is to avoid cheeses in which Listeria can grow. Whether or not the cheese is pasteurised or raw is not a relevant factor because contamination may occur after the point of pasteurisation, for example, through environmental contamination.

  •  Listeria grows in high-moisture, low acidity cheeses and for this reason pregnant women should avoid soft (e.g. soft goat, Brie-style, washed-rind) semi-soft (e.g. territorial cheeses: which are fairly high-moisture and young) and mould-ripened (e.g. blue) cheeses.
  • Hard, aged cheeses (which conversely are low-moisture, high acidity) are environments hostile to Listeria survival and safe to eat. 
  • Cheese rinds pose a higher risk because a) Listeria tends to grow better in a rind environment b) it is the point at which the cheese is exposed to any potential environmental contamination. We advise pregnant women not to eat the cheese rind, even on hard cheeses.

The following cheeses constitute examples of cheese which meet our criteria for safe consumption in pregnancy:
Montgomery’s Cheddar
Isle of Mull Cheddar
Lincolnshire Poacher
Hafod 
Westcombe Cheddar
Doddington
Parmigiano Reggiano
Coolea

There may be further cheeses suitable for consumption during pregnancy on our counter if you visit our shops. Age profiles vary, so we recommend speaking to your cheesemonger and asking for advice. As a general guideline, we consider an ‘aged’ and therefore ‘safe to eat’ cheese to be at a maturity of six months minimum.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

Pregnant women, immunocompromised individuals, the very young, and the elderly are more susceptible to organisms that can grow in soft or un-aged cheeses.

In addition to following the guidelines above, we advise people in these groups to avoid raw non-cheese dairy (e.g. raw cream, butter or milk): this is the equivalent of the ultimate high moisture, low acidity soft cheese (which should be avoided as above).

Pasteurised milk and dairy products are low risk: if they are bottled/contained immediately, the risk of any post-pasteurisation contamination is very low. Crème fraiche, yoghurt and sour cream are good choices because of their high acidity.

Blue veins in a cheddar are low risk (this remains an aged, low moisture, high acidity cheese) but to err on the side of most caution, pregnant women can avoid eating the blue (and the same for wet spots).

Breastfeeding and cheese: there does not appear to be a conclusive/final picture on the migration of pathogens from mother to infant via breastfeeding. To our perspective, any risk is slight; but we can’t offer medical advice on this.

If you have more specific questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.