Protecting families from contaminated food and water
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Protecting families from contaminated food and water
Posted in Our Blog on June 16, 2026
Pregnancy advice. Everyone has some.
Your aunt says to stay hydrated. Good advice, but you already knew that.
Your cousin says to sing to the baby and put headphones on your belly to nurture your fetus. Ummm. Okay.
Your mom says not to jump up and down, even if you are excited. You may cause brain damage in the womb. I don’t know about that.
Everyone has some nugget of advice to pass along. Especially seasoned moms with multiple children.
Take what you want, smile and nod at the rest, and do what is best for you. Consult your doctor if necessary.
That said. When it comes to food safety, the Make Food Safe Blog has great information that has been thoroughly researched and expertly curated. Check us out and learn about what risky foods to avoid right now, foodborne outbreaks to be aware of, and where to go for up to date recall information.
In this case, we are exploring a Consumer Reports report on the top six risky foods to eat while pregnant.
Not advice. Just information.
Technically, any food can become contaminated. Therefore, any food can be risky.
Food safety is important to keep everyone safe. Especially during pregnancy.
Some foods are more likely to be contaminated. They pose an inherent risk, like raw or unpasteurized shellfish, dairy, or juices. Any number of bad bugs could be lurking within.
Any germ can cause severe illness, but some germs are more dangerous to pregnant people than others.
Listeria being one of the biggest concerns.
Listeria monocytogenes is the bacteria responsible for listeriosis. It causes a serious infection and is often associated with contaminated food. Which is the focus of most of the updated Listeria guidance.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates around 1,600 people become sick with listeriosis each year. About 260 of those die from the illness. While that does sound like a lot, it is far from the most common foodborne germ. For example, Salmonella bacteria are responsible for around 1.35 million illnesses in the United States each year.
So, if only a fraction of the population becomes sick from this germ, what’s the big risk?
In this case, those who get sick often get very sick. Additionally, the impact on a pregnancy is the reason we are focusing on this germ in this blog post.
The statistics are startling!
Let’s talk pregnancy statistics!
Pregnant people are ten times more likely than other non-pregnant adults to become sick with a Listeria infection. The risk for pregnant Hispanic people is even greater. These individuals are 24 times more likely to experience Listeria illness due to the common consumption of certain soft cheeses in many Latino households.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that about 1 in every 25,000 pregnant women are infected with Listeria each year in the United States.
Why is the focus on pregnancy?
One of the saddest statistics.
Listeria infections during pregnancy can seriously impact the fetus or the newborn baby. Sadly, 1 in 4 pregnant people who become infected with Listeria will either lose their pregnancy through miscarriage or still birth, or lose their baby shortly after birth due to passing the life-threatening infection to their newborn.
Listeria bacteria cause a complicated range of symptoms. These symptoms, like most bacterial infections, can cause either mild or severe illnesses. But Listeria infections have an added complication in how they impact those who are pregnant. Particularly in invasive listeriosis.
One of the most common symptom profiles of Listeria illness involves intestinal illness. This type of illness impacts the digestive system.
Common symptoms include vomiting and diarrhea beginning within 24 hours. These symptoms often resolve within three days.
Most people with intestinal listeriosis do not need medical attention or antibiotic treatment.
In some cases, intestinal listeriosis can evolve to more invasive illnesses.
Listeria bacteria cause invasive illness when they leave the digestive system and enter other parts of the body. Invasive listeriosis affects pregnant people and non-pregnant people in different ways. For both categories, invasive illness symptoms usually begin about two weeks after exposure.
While personal symptoms of invasive listeriosis are milder in pregnant people, the impact on the pregnancy is the greatest risk. Someone who is pregnant and experiencing invasive listeriosis may have fever, fatigue, and muscle aches. When pregnant, invasive listeriosis can lead to still birth, premature delivery, miscarriage, or life-threatening infection in the newborn.
Those who are not pregnant have a higher risk of serious illness or death. Invasive listeriosis in non-pregnant people often includes headaches, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, and convulsions. Some may also experience fever and/or muscle aches. This infection can be serious or even life-threatening. 1 in 20 nonpregnant people with invasive listeriosis will die from their illness.
What is the difference between a pregnant person and someone who is not pregnant when it comes to Listeria infections?
While pregnant people are generally more susceptible to many other illnesses, Listeria not only poses greater risk, but as you have seen, the illness presents a different set of symptoms than those who are not pregnant.
Most of the time, it comes down to the unique changes in a pregnant person’s body.
Experts explain that the body must change slightly to allow a fertilized egg to implant into the uterus. Certain hormones produce changes in the immune system that help prevent the body’s response to the implantation as a foreign body.
These changes to the immune system allow the embryo to implant safely. But it also lowers the body’s ability to fight off certain infections. Namely, Listeria.
The fetal-placental barrier is the filter that exists between the mom’s bloodstream and the baby’s. This “filter” blocks most hazards from entering the fetus’ body.
But the filter isn’t perfect.
While this barrier generally keeps out Salmonella and E. coli, some harmful agents can cross that barrier. Listeria, for example.
It can be difficult to detect Listeria infections in those who are pregnant. A phenomenon that makes it difficult to treat the infection early in an attempt to reduce the risk to the pregnancy.
This is because pregnant people often experience more mild symptoms. Symptoms that can be confused with morning sickness. Let’s face it, a pregnant person experiencing nausea, vomiting, or even diarrhea, especially if it is mild, might assume the symptoms are related to their pregnancy and not the spinach they had the evening before for dinner.
This makes a complicated illness even more complicated.
For this reason, prevention is key!
Some foods are considered riskier than others when it comes to Listeria. This is because Listeria loves a cold, damp environment. Places like a refrigerator or the environment of food processing plants are perfect for growing these scary germs.
They can grow on all kinds of surfaces, thriving for extended periods of time. Stainless steel, wood, glass, porcelain, plastic, rubber, waxed cardboard, and paper to name a few. Even iron!
Once an area is contaminated, it is very difficult to get rid of it. Processing facility machinery are particularly vulnerable to this.
That being said, no food is truly safe. But there are some that impose higher risk than others.
It might seem like a no-brainer, but raw fish is high on the risky foods during pregnancy list.
This includes sushi, sashimi, raw shellfish, and ceviche. It even applies to nova-style lox, kippered, smoked, or jerky.
These foods are heat treated to temperatures high enough to kill harmful Listeria bacteria.
Sprouts are also high on the risky foods list. This is mostly because the conditions needed to coax a bean to sprout is the same environment that Listeria need no coaxing to grow in.
The moist, warm environment is a perfect breeding ground for these risky bacteria, as well as Salmonella, E. coli, and others.
Meat spreads and pâté sold in refrigerated cases also make the list of risky foods to consume during pregnancy. Much like the risk associated with soft cheeses, the water content and acidity, along with the potential risks associated with processing contribute to the increased risk.
If you are craving these meat spreads, select packages that do not require refrigeration before opening. These shelf-stable products have been heat treated to kill potential germs and are then packaged in airtight containers.
Once opened, they will need to be refrigerated if you have leftovers.
When it comes to food contamination, raw spinach and leafy greens top the list. This is often a result of contaminated irrigation water and the potential for wild animal fecal contamination.
These greens are also commonly consumed raw. The consumer must rely on effective washing to remove potential germs from the items.
To help reduce your risk, be sure to thoroughly wash raw spinach and leafy greens. Consider opting for greens that can be cooked, like spinach, kale, and collard greens.
Experts say that soft cheeses, more specifically soft cheeses made with raw milk, are the riskiest foods to consume for Listeria risk.
Brie, Camembert, queso fresco, queso blanco, queso blando, queso ranchero, and cuajada en terron, for example.
The reason for the increased risk comes down to the composition of these soft cheeses. They often have low acidity and higher water content than other cheeses. Add in the risk factor of unpasteurized dairy, and you have a huge Listeria threat.
To reduce your risk, avoid soft cheeses, or select those that do not contain raw or unpasteurized milk.
Deli meat tops the list. In fact, this food was the leading cause of listeriosis infection in the U.S., according to a study published in the International Journal of Food Microbiology.
The types of processing equipment and facility environments increases the risk of Listeria exposure for these food types.
Additionally, deli equipment like slicers, knifes, and cutting boards can easily harbor hardy Listeria bacteria.
If you plan to eat these foods, heat them to 165° F to heat kill potential Listeria bacteria.
Advice is great. But knowledge is power.
Pregnancy can be stressful. But knowing what foods to avoid in order to reduce the risk of complicating things further doesn’t have to be.
A little research goes a long way.
If you’d like to know more about food safety topics in the news, like “Top Six Risky Foods During Pregnancy Says Consumer Reports,” check out the Make Food Safe Blog. We regularly update trending topics, foodborne infections in the news, recalls, and more! Stay tuned for quality information to help keep your family safe, while The Lange Law Firm, PLLC strives to Make Food Safe!
By: Heather Van Tassell (contributing writer, non-lawyer)