Is caviar and fish roe safe during pregnancy?

What does the evidence say about caviar and fish roe during pregnancy?

1. Pregnant people are among those most at risk from listeria, and uncooked fish sits on the list of foods that carry it, alongside a specific caution to skip refrigerated smoked seafood unless it is an ingredient in a fully cooked dish. 1
2. Listeria reaching a pregnancy raises the chance of infection in the uterus, preterm delivery before week 37, and low birth weight, and severe infection raises the chance of stillbirth. 1
3. The seafood advice for pregnancy is written around cooked fish, at 2 to 3 servings of a variety of cooked fish, roughly 8 to 12 ounces, per week. 2
4. Raw fish products can also carry Anisakis larvae, which bring nausea, vomiting, and upper abdominal pain 1 to 12 hours after eating, and which are eliminated by cooking to 70°C or freezing at minus 20°C for at least 72 hours. 3
5. Mercury is not the deciding factor for roe: salmon, the source of ikura, sits in the Best Choices category alongside the other lowest-mercury species, so the question here is handling rather than species. 4

Is caviar and fish roe safe in each trimester?

• First trimester. The distinction to learn early is pasteurized versus fresh chilled, because it decides the whole answer. Shelf-stable jars and tins that were heat processed are the straightforward option. Anything sold from a refrigerated case as fresh roe belongs in the raw seafood category and is best left alone.
• Second trimester. Ikura, the orange salmon roe that tops sushi rolls and rice bowls, is raw roe even when everything around it is cooked. A cooked roll with the ikura left off is the easy substitution. The same goes for tobiko and masago on the outside of a roll.
• Third trimester. Nothing shifts late in pregnancy. If you are planning something celebratory around your due date, a pasteurized tin bought ahead and kept properly chilled is the version that works. Keep an eye on the date and on how long it has been open, since ready-to-eat chilled foods are exactly where listeria takes hold.