Is it safe to eat rare or raw meat during pregnancy?
Raw, rare, cured and undercooked meat or poultry of any kind is best avoided in pregnancy. It may contain salmonella bacteria and the toxoplasmosis parasite. Salmonella food poisoning is an extremely unpleasant illness. Symptoms include severe vomiting and diarrhoea, abdominal pain, headache and a very high temperature. Your doctor will prescribe antibiotics, and you will need to replace the fluids your body has lost to avoid dehydration. Sometimes you may need hospital treatment. When you are pregnant, your immune system is not functioning as well as usual, so you are more susceptible to all the germs responsible for food poisoning and are more likely to be badly affected. Salmonella poisoning will not directly harm your baby, but it is best to try to avoid the bacteria to maintain your own health and well-being. Toxoplasmosis is an illness caused by a parasite sometimes found in raw meat, including cured meats, such as Parma ham. It’s also found in soil, on unwashed vegetables, and i
