Cold Cut and Pregnancy Question..after heating it.?

Question

I know that pregnant women aren't supposed to eat cold cuts because of the risk of listeria which is almost always harmless to the mom but is often fatal to the baby.

The recommendation is to heat any cold cuts until they are "steaming" which kills the bacteria. Now most of us don't like our cold cut sandwiches nice and steamy but I have found that a grilled ham & cheese is nice.

My question is, if I nuke the ham in the microwave, then let it cool a bit so I can have a more "traditional" ham & cheese sandwich, how long can I let it cool before it becomes a risk again? Could I stick it in the fridge for 20 minutes?

What do you think?

***I meant to say that when you contract listeria it is often fatal to the baby. But the risk to contract isn't that high.

***Yes, there are a lot of new things to follow but that's progress. I'm sure lots of our moms smoked during their pregnancies but that doesn't make it o.k. to do it now.

*** To the poster about "needing the ham that badly"....way to go with your educated response. Great research and sticking to the question! :P

http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancycomplications/listeria.html

According to this, pregnant women are 20 times more likely to get listeria.

Answer 1

If you heat it to steaming hot then cool it before eating it you should be just fine.
I was one of those women who ate cold cuts, soft cheese (only pasturized), and even sushi during my pregnancy. Everything went fine until the 36th week of my last pregnancy. After my ultrasound (to check big baby's size) I went to Subway and ordered a sandwich for myself and my friend who was babysitting my other children. We both ate them and the by that night I was cramping and vomiting, sweating and the baby stopped moving. I went to bring the kids to the same friend still not making the connection to the sandwich. My friend had no idea what was wrong, she didn't ask any questions and just took my kids while I went to the hospital. At the hospital I was severly dehydrayted (and the iditos did NOTHING about it, but thats another story), but thank goodness the baby was fine.
Upon picking my kids of from the sitter she had time to wake up and realize what was going on and told me "I was sick all night too, it was the sandwich" and I suddenly realized why they tell you to avoid those foods. We think it was the mayonaise because 3 other locals got sick, the nurse at the doctors office, my landlady, and someone else, all from Subway all the same 2 days (its a small town.) It could have very easily have been the meat and I could have lost my baby.

I am not trying to scare you, I am telling you the honest truth. Until 5 months ago listera didn't scare me, now it does. If I ever have another child I will be sure to eat hot sandwiches I make myself, or at least do as you plan to and heat the meat first.

Just make sure you heat it and kill any bacteria because it seems like such a longshot... I really thought 'it will never happen to me" and I DID get food poisening. In fact, if you look at my past questions, I am almost sure I asked here about it that night. Wait, i just checked, that was another problem I had in the same pregnancy and it turned out to not be food poisening, but the sandwich certainly was.

So to anyone reading this, the risk is real. Please heat your coldcuts!

Answer 2

When I had my first baby in the Netherlands, my doctor said no caffeine, no alcohol, and no raw meat or fish - oh, and a staple of the Dutch is cold cut sandwiches for breakfast AND lunch. Those were his ONLY instructions. With my second baby due any day now in the US, I got a huge packet telling me what I can and cannot eat or drink or do. It is kind of funny. We are definitely paranoid. I wouldn't think that having a cold cut sandwich would be very likely to hurt your baby. The recommendation is probably coming from the extremely rare case....

Answer 3

If you have heated the meat until it is hot enough to kill the bacteria, and then refrigerate it in a clean container (such as an unused zip-loc bag) then it should be fine. The bacteria can't suddenly develop out of thin air :-)

Personally, it's a wonder my son wasn't born HOLDING a sub sandwich - that seems to have been what I craved when I was expecting him!

Answer 4

I heated it and stuck it in the freezer, then ate it as soon as it was cold. If heated properly in theory all of the listeria should be dead and it should be fine indefinatly. Listeria contamination happens during processing.

Also listeria is very rarely a problem even for the fetus.

Answer 5

As long as you heat it correctly to the right temperature, putting back in the fridge for 20 min will not cause the bacteria to grow again.

Answer 6

you can eat "fresh" cold cuts.not pre cut or packaged like at subw@y.
my ob gyn said i could have fresh cut cold cuts like they serve in a deli.
i dont knoow if you have been told different but it couldnt hurt to ask (before trying of course!)
also couldnt you use cooked ham that has cooled (not the lunch meat type)?

Answer 7

WOW!!! I'm pregnant with my second child, have my friends and relatives that have had children, and never once heard that pregnant women shouldn't eat cold cuts!

Pregnant women should steer clear from tuna!

Answer 8

If its eaten within 2 hours after heating, there will not be enough time for any potential bacteria to have multiplied again to harmful levels.

Answer 9

Are you really serious? I honestly have never heard that before. I have been pregnant twice, so now I'm blessed with 2 beautiful, healthy children and I ate cold cuts.

Answer 10

to tell u the truth i still eat cold cuts..and bologna sandwiches..i cant help it ..i crave the cold cuts..and like my mom told me why are there so many changes from what you can eat and cant eat from back then to now..i just eat what i did before i got pregnant but i just cut out the caffeine...good luck and congrats..