Safe cheese alternatives during pregnancy

How do the options compare?

Cheeses are sorted by what the outbreak record actually implicates, with pasteurization counted as one variable rather than as the whole answer.

• Across 90 US cheese-related outbreaks from 1998 to 2011, 21% of illnesses from cheese made with unpasteurized milk led to hospitalization compared with 6% for cheese made with pasteurized milk. 1
• A multistate Listeria outbreak traced to fresh, soft Hispanic-style cheese infected 13 people across four states, hospitalizing 12 and killing one, and four of those infections happened during pregnancy, causing two pregnancy losses and one premature birth. 2
• Mexican-style cheese was behind four US listeriosis outbreaks between 1998 and 2008, causing 45 illnesses and 41 hospitalizations, and those outbreaks primarily affected women, who made up 84% of cases. 3
• Listeria symptoms in pregnancy may be mild or go entirely unnoticed while still leading to miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery, or newborn infection, which is why any fever after eating a suspect cheese warrants a same-day call. 4
• Soft cheeses sit alongside ready-to-eat meats as the food category behind most sporadic listeriosis cases and all large outbreaks, with cases concentrated in the third trimester. 5

Which option makes sense?

The outbreak record points squarely at fresh soft cheese rather than aged and firm, and pasteurization improves the odds without settling them, which leaves heat as the one step that closes the question.

Disclosure: Pregnancy Smart is a supplement maker. The options compared above sit outside our own product line; this page describes their pregnancy evidence on its own merits.