Food Restrictions During Pregnancy | What To Skip And Why

Eating while pregnant can feel like a minefield. One list bans half the grocery store, another says you’re fine. This article keeps it practical: what to skip, what to limit, and what’s fine when it’s pasteurized, cooked, or handled well.

Most food rules in pregnancy fall into three buckets: foodborne germs, mercury in a few fish, and too much preformed vitamin A from liver or certain supplements.

What Food Restrictions Are Trying To Prevent

Pregnancy can raise the stakes of food poisoning. Public health guidance points to a short set of foods that more often carry germs like Listeria and means a bigger downside in pregnancy. The CDC’s guidance on safer food choices for pregnant women is a solid anchor when you want a trusted list.

Listeria gets extra attention because it can grow in the fridge. Clinical guidance from ACOG on presumptive exposure to Listeria explains why clinicians treat prevention seriously.

Mercury is the other headline issue. You don’t need to drop fish. You do need to choose species that are lower in mercury and watch serving size, using the FDA’s Advice About Eating Fish chart.

Caffeine is mostly a “watch the total” issue. The NHS advises staying at 200 mg caffeine per day or less during pregnancy.

High-Risk Foods To Skip Completely

These are the items with the clearest “skip it” signal across mainstream guidance.

Unpasteurized Milk And Unpasteurized Dairy

Raw milk and foods made from unpasteurized milk can carry Listeria, Salmonella, and E. coli. Choose pasteurized milk, yogurt, and cheeses with a pasteurized label.

Watch for words like “raw,” “unpasteurized,” or “made from raw milk.” Some small-batch products and imported cheeses may not be pasteurized. When in doubt, leave it on the shelf.

Raw Or Undercooked Eggs

Skip runny eggs and raw-egg foods like homemade eggnog and raw cookie dough. Eat eggs cooked until the yolk and white are firm.

Restaurant hollandaise, homemade mayo, and tiramisu can be raw-egg based. If you want those flavors, look for versions made with pasteurized eggs or fully cooked eggs.

Raw Or Undercooked Meat, Poultry, And Seafood

Skip raw shellfish, raw fish, and undercooked meats. Heat is the safety step. Order well-cooked items and reheat leftovers until steaming.

Raw Sprouts

Raw sprouts are linked with outbreaks because bacteria can multiply during sprouting. Skip them raw. Cooked sprouts are a different story.

If you buy sandwiches or bowls, ask for no sprouts. If you cook at home, add sprouts to a hot pan for a minute or two until they’re piping hot.

Foods That Are Fine With The Right Version

Some foods get a bad reputation when the real issue is pasteurization or serving temperature.

These are the foods that often confuse people. A simple rule helps: when a food is ready-to-eat and chilled, it’s more likely to be on a pregnancy caution list. When it’s cooked hot and eaten hot, risk tends to drop.

Soft Cheeses

Soft cheeses can be fine when made with pasteurized milk and stored properly. If you can’t confirm pasteurization, pick hard cheeses or a cooked cheese dish served hot.

Deli Meats, Hot Dogs, And Pâté

Cold deli meats, hot dogs eaten cold, and chilled pâté are common Listeria warnings. If you heat deli meat or hot dogs until they’re steaming hot, then eat right away, the risk drops.

Sushi And Seafood Dishes

Cooked rolls and veggie rolls can scratch the sushi itch without raw fish. If you’re choosing seafood, keep mercury in mind too.

Mercury, Fish, And Seafood That Work

Use the FDA’s Advice About Eating Fish chart as your default list. It groups seafood by mercury level and gives serving guidance for pregnancy.

Think in weekly rhythm, not single meals. If you eat fish twice in a week, keep both servings from the lower-mercury groups. If you want tuna, canned light tuna tends to be lower in mercury than albacore, and portion size still matters.

Fish To Avoid

U.S. guidance commonly flags shark, swordfish, king mackerel, and tilefish from the Gulf of Mexico as high-mercury species.

These show up more often as restaurant specials than grocery staples, so the risk is sometimes from ordering without thinking. If a menu lists a fish you don’t recognize, ask what it is, or pick a known lower-mercury option.

Fish To Choose Often

Salmon, sardines, trout, pollock, cod, tilapia, shrimp, and canned light tuna are often listed as lower-mercury choices. Aim for two to three servings per week from lower-mercury options, adjusting portions to the chart.

Table Of Common Foods And The Pregnancy Rule

Scan this table when you’re shopping or reading a menu.

Food Or Drink	Rule	Main Reason
Raw milk, raw cheese	Skip	Higher Listeria and other germ risk
Soft cheese (pasteurized)	OK with label check	Risk depends on pasteurization and handling
Deli meat, hot dogs	Heat until steaming	Heating lowers Listeria risk
Eggs with runny yolk	Skip	Salmonella risk
Sushi with raw fish	Skip	Germ and parasite risk
Shark, swordfish, king mackerel	Skip	High mercury
Salmon, shrimp, cod	Eat 2–3 servings/week	Lower mercury, good nutrients
Liver, liver pâté	Skip	High preformed vitamin A

Caffeine, Energy Drinks, And Herbal Products

Caffeine adds up fast because it hides in coffee, tea, cola, chocolate, and some medicines. Sticking to a clear daily cap helps, and NHS guidance on foods and drinks to avoid in pregnancy uses 200 mg per day or less during pregnancy.

One way to manage this without counting every sip is to choose a default: one small coffee or two mugs of black tea, then keep the rest of the day caffeine-free. If you buy café drinks, know that larger sizes can double caffeine without you noticing.

Energy drinks and stimulant powders can pack a lot of caffeine plus other stimulants. During pregnancy, it’s safer to skip them and choose water, milk, smoothies, or decaf drinks.

Herbal teas can be fine in food-level amounts, yet blends vary and labels aren’t always clear. If a product promises a strong body effect, treat that as a warning sign and skip it.

Vitamin A, Liver, And Supplements

Your body needs vitamin A, yet too much preformed vitamin A (retinol) can be harmful in pregnancy. Liver and liver pâté are the classic high-retinol foods.

Retinol is the kind found in animal sources and some supplements. Beta-carotene is the kind found in orange and dark-green produce. Pregnancy guidance mainly warns about high retinol intake, not carrots or sweet potatoes.

On supplement labels, “vitamin A” can show up as retinol or retinyl palmitate. If you’re already taking a prenatal vitamin, avoid stacking extra multivitamins unless your clinician told you to.

Drinks And Extras That Catch People Off Guard

Alcohol is a hard “no” in pregnancy. If you want a social drink, choose sparkling water with citrus, a mocktail made to order, or a zero-alcohol beer that’s labeled 0.0%.

Watch for unpasteurized juice and cider too, especially at farmers markets. The risk is similar to raw milk: no kill step. Choose pasteurized juices and bottled smoothies from brands that state pasteurization or a similar safety process on the label.

Food Safety Habits That Lower Risk

Restrictions matter, and daily habits matter too. The CDC’s pregnancy food safety guidance lists four basics: clean, separate, cook, and chill.

Shopping And Storage

• Keep raw meat and seafood away from ready-to-eat foods in your cart and fridge.
• Keep the fridge cold (40°F / 4°C or below) and don’t leave cooked food out.
• Eat ready-to-eat foods by the use-by date.

At the store, grab cold foods last, then go straight home. In a hot car, the risk window opens fast. In the fridge, store raw meat on the bottom shelf so drips can’t fall onto produce.

Cooking And Reheating

• Cook eggs until firm.
• Cook poultry until fully done.
• Reheat leftovers until steaming hot.

If you meal prep, use shallow containers so food chills fast. Aim to get leftovers into the fridge soon after cooking. If you’re unsure how long something sat out, toss it. It’s not worth the gamble.

Table Of Safer Swaps For Common Cravings

Swaps keep you satisfied without leaning on higher-risk items.

Craving	Safer Pick	Why It’s Lower Risk
Cold deli sandwich	Hot toasted sandwich with heated meat	Heat step cuts Listeria risk
Sushi night	Cooked rolls or veggie rolls	No raw fish
Soft cheese board	Hard cheeses or pasteurized soft cheese	Pasteurization is clear
Runny eggs	Fully cooked eggs	Lower Salmonella risk
Energy drink slump	Water + snack with protein	Avoids stimulant load
Smoked salmon bagel	Cooked salmon bowl	Hot cooked fish instead of refrigerated smoked

Eating Out Without Stress

When a dish includes cheese that might be unpasteurized, ask if it’s pasteurized. If staff can’t confirm, choose a different dish.

Pick foods that arrive hot, skip raw sprouts, and avoid raw seafood. If you’re choosing fish, lean on lower-mercury species.

Buffets and salad bars are tricky because you can’t see time and temperature control. If you can’t tell how long a dish has been out, stick to freshly cooked options.

If A Restricted Food Slips In

One slip usually doesn’t mean something bad will happen. If you feel sick with fever, chills, vomiting, or diarrhea, contact a clinician. ACOG’s guidance on Listeria exposure outlines how clinicians think through symptoms and timing.