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Is it safe to eat deli meats when I'm pregnant?

It's not safe for pregnant women to eat deli meats (such as ham, turkey, salami, and bologna) or hot dogs unless the food has been thoroughly heated and is steaming hot. These foods can cause a form of food poisoning called listeriosis.

Listeriosis is caused by Listeria monocytogenes, a type of bacteria. Heating deli meats until steaming hot will kill the bacteria if it's present.

Listeriosis is especially dangerous during pregnancy. Most people don't get sick when they eat food contaminated with listeria. But healthy pregnant women are more likely than other healthy adults to get listeriosis and are more likely to become dangerously ill from it.

The flu-like symptoms of listeriosis can sometimes advance to potentially life-threatening meningitis (infection of the membranes covering the brain, with symptoms such as severe headache and stiff neck) and blood infection.

You can pass the infection on to your baby while you're pregnant, too. This can cause problems such as miscarriage, stillbirth, premature birth, low birth weight, and life-threatening infections like bacteremia (bacteria in the blood) and meningitis.

Contact your healthcare provider if you're pregnant and you suspect you might have listeriosis.

Learn more about food safety during pregnancy on the FDA's Food Safety for Moms-to-Be page.

It's not safe to eat precooked meats such as deli meats, hot dogs, and pâté when you're pregnant unless they're heated until steaming hot. Pregnant women are about 20 times more likely than other healthy adults to get listeriosis, and newborns – not moms – suffer the most serious effects of infection during pregnancy.

Listeria can cross the placental barrier or, more commonly, be transmitted in the birth canal, and it can be devastating for the baby. Every year or so, an outbreak occurs in which miscarriage, preterm delivery, or death occurs because pregnant women ate deli meat or hot dogs contaminated with listeria.

Contamination may result from improper handling, or the bacteria may already be present in the meat. But whatever the reason, unlike other bacteria, listeria grows well at refrigerator temperatures. So while we think we're being safe by putting cold cuts in the refrigerator, this germ outsmarts us.

You should avoid getting fluid from packages of hot dogs and other meats on other foods, utensils, or food preparation areas, and be sure to wash your hands after handling hot dogs or deli meats. Listeria is also a problem in unpasteurized milk, soft cheeses, and uncooked poultry. While you're pregnant, you should stay away from cheese made from unpasteurized milk.

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