What To Eat While Pregnant: Food Guide And Cheat Sheet

Cheeses are a bit—OK, a lot—more complicated. All milk sold in Canada must be pasteurized and is therefore safe, while cheeses made from raw or unpasteurized milk are available and should be avoided.

But even soft and semi-soft cheeses made with pasteurized milk (e.g., brie, Camembert) are considered a risk for listeriosis, notes Lovelace. “Listeria can grow at refrigerator and even freezer temperatures,” she explains. Soft and semi-soft cheeses are higher in moisture and lower in salt and acids, so the bacteria could grow and cause illness if the cheese is contaminated after pasteurization.

“While Canada has strong procedures and monitoring to avoid bacterial contamination during food production, the risk is minimized, but not eliminated,” she says. Processed soft cheeses, such as cottage cheese and cream cheese, are safe because they are packaged immediately.

While pregnancy websites like BabyCenter.ca and Motherisk.org state that pasteurized, shelf-stable packaged products such as feta, mozzarella and tubs of ricotta are fine to consume, Health Canada errs on the side of caution and recommends avoiding them. (They’re lower risk than brie and Camembert, but there’s still some risk of listeriosis.)