Is blue cheese safe during pregnancy?

What does the evidence say about blue cheese during pregnancy?

1. Blue-veined cheeses like Gorgonzola and Roquefort fall into the same avoid-unless-pasteurized category as Brie, Camembert, and feta, so check the label for pasteurized milk before eating any of them. 1
2. Any food made with unpasteurized milk carries the same Listeria caution, and soft-ripened and blue-veined cheeses are named specifically alongside other raw-milk dairy products to avoid. 2
3. Heating a Listeria-risk food until it's steaming, at least 165°F (74°C), kills the bacteria, which is why blue cheese melted into a hot sauce or baked dish is a different case than the same cheese served cold on a board. 2
4. Soft cheeses are a documented route for Listeria infection, alongside deli meats and other ready-to-eat foods, according to a 2017 review of listeriosis during pregnancy. 3
5. Soft cheeses are among the ready-to-eat foods most often linked to Listeria infection, an earlier review on the condition during pregnancy confirms. 4

Is blue cheese safe in each trimester?

• First trimester. The Listeria risk from unpasteurized blue cheese is there from your very first weeks of pregnancy, and it has been linked to early pregnancy loss, so start checking labels for pasteurized milk right away.
• Second trimester. The risk doesn't ease up in the second trimester since it's about the cheese, not how far along you are. Keep checking labels for pasteurized milk, and save unlabeled artisanal or imported blues for dishes that are cooked all the way through.
• Third trimester. Listeria tends to target placental tissue late in pregnancy, and it's linked to preterm labor and stillbirth in the third trimester. Keep checking labels right up to delivery rather than relaxing the habit near the end.