What You Need to Know About Listeria, the Biggest Threat to Foodborne Pregnancy

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Listeria is now sold in Starbucks sandwiches. But that’s not all: reviews for a microbe dangerous to the fetus have included – in just the past 60 days – salmon, melon, and two brands of cheese. How to avoid what appears in such random places?

Listeria is rare, but it can kill your child

While food poisoning is never enjoyable, this particular type of food poisoning caused by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes is especially dire if you are pregnant. About a quarter of Listeria infections in pregnant women end in miscarriage, stillbirth, or death of the newborn .

The only bright spot here is that Listeria infestations are rare. It causes1,600 diseases and 260 deaths in the United States each year , which is not much. But if you do get infected and don’t seek help right away, the odds are against you. Whenever a Listeria outbreak occurs, 27% of those affected are pregnant. Most often these are people with weakened immune systems: either the elderly or living with some other disease, such as AIDS or cancer, which means that their bodies are unable to fight the germ.

Symptoms of an infection called listeriosis include fever, vomiting, and (if the infection affects the brain) a stiff neck and confusion. If you experience any of these during pregnancy, even if you think it might be something less serious, such as the flu, seek immediate medical attention for testing and antibiotic treatment .

Listeria is widespread in the world around us : it is found in water, mud and, naturally, in the intestines of humans and animals. And the trick to eating listeria is that, unlike many other types of bacteria, it can grow at refrigerator temperatures. For example, E. coli will not grow on turkey slices while they are refrigerated. But Listeria will be.

However, although Listeria is the queen of the refrigerator, it is easily killed by the heat. If you cook food at a temperature that will kill E.coli or Salmonella (the most common microbes in meat and poultry), then any Listeria labeled together will be long gone.

Listeria can appear almost anywhere

If we only had to keep an eye on meat for lunch and raw milk cheese, that would be a manageable problem. But Listeria has been appearing in many, many other places lately.

Here’s where the major outbreaks of Listeria have come from over the past five years:

  • Salads in bags (2016)
  • Soft cheese (2015)
  • Ice cream (2015)
  • Caramel apples (2014)
  • Bean sprouts and tofu (2014)
  • Two brands of cheese (2014)
  • More cheese (2013)
  • Ricotta cheese (2012)
  • Cantaloupe (2011)

Ben Chapman , a food safety expert at North Carolina State University, says Listeria is n’t necessarily present in more places than it used to be, it’s just that we are looking for it better. For example, in the case of Starbucks sandwiches, the factory found Listeria on some surfaces and issued a recall. Nobody got sick. However, there are plenty of outbreaks of real-life diseases, including those in the list above.

Gourmet meats and soft cheese are within the automatic limit, although

Standard advice for pregnant women is to avoid any of the following unless they are too hot:

  • Soft cheeses made from raw milk
  • Meat delicacies and hot dogs
  • Frozen pates
  • Chilled smoked seafood like goof

There are other things that people are advised to avoid during pregnancy, but these are rules specific to Listeria.

But here, too, we have some good news: you can still enjoy these products. For example, gourmet meats can be reheated to kill Listeria . Chapman says that when his wife was pregnant, he ordered toasted pieces of ham and cheese, then cooked them at home in the microwave and checked the temperature with a thermometer at several points on the sandwich.

Even if you’re not so obsessed, you can still microwave deli meats until steamed. Today, lunch meat is also less likely to carry listeria than it was several decades ago: manufacturers are now adding lactic acid to slow the growth of bacteria.

Soft cheeses are also fine if they are made from pasteurized milk, and by law they are almost all there is . So you don’t have to give up brie. Aged (hard) cheeses do not need to use pasteurized milk, but theymay contain listeria , so if you are extra careful, look for pasteurized milk on the ingredient label, even for hard cheeses.

However, beware of homemade cheeses or soft cheeses in small batches. This explains several outbreaks of Listeria infection, enough that Hispanic women are at higher risk simply because they are more likely to eat fresh, hand-made queso fresco raw milk. Chapman recommends asking small food producers about their Listeria management plan. If they don’t understand what you are talking about, do not eat their cheese.

There is little you can do but cook everything

“What can be done? Not much, ”Chapman said. I really hoped he could give me a new set of rules that would make it easier to get away from Listeria . There is no such luck. He says that standard advice on meat and cheese for lunch still applies as above, and that in addition, you should avoid food that you suspect is not prepared in the strictest and cleanest way possible.

However, prior to their recall, we probably expected food from big companies like Blue Bell ice cream and Sabra hummus to be safe. Companies are cleaning up after recall and trying to get your trust back , but we understand if you’re still suspicious.

While you can’t fix what’s going on in the factory, there are a few steps you can take to make your kitchen a less welcoming place for Listeria . None of this is a complete solution, but every little thing helps:

That’s all. The risk of Listeria will be present no matter what you do. Fortunately, this is a small risk: About 500 out of an estimated 4 million pregnant women develop listeriosis in the United States each year. How much should you worry? It’s really up to you.

The last time I was pregnant, there was a Listeria outbreak associated with my favorite hummus strain . They said it was just certain batches, but I hadn’t eaten hummus in nine months. I also skipped packaged salads (and salad bars) and deli meats, unless they were on a hot sandwich. This is in addition to avoiding alcohol and contact sports. Thank you Listeria for making the pregnancy even more deprivation.

Ultimately, you must establish your own rules. You can’t predict where Listeria will appear next, and I’m not going to pretend I have a surefire way to avoid the next outbreak. It’s best to rule out the risks you might have (like sketchy cheese) and try not to worry about what’s out of your hands.

Illustration by Sam Woolley .

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