Is crab safe during pregnancy?

What does the evidence say about crab during pregnancy?

1. Crab is on the FDA's 'Best Choices' seafood list, low enough in mercury for 2 to 3 servings a week at about 4 ounces each. 1
2. Cook shellfish like crab until the shell opens and the flesh turns pearly white and opaque all the way through, not just until it looks a certain color. 2
3. Fish and shellfish are the main dietary source of mercury exposure, which is why the FDA/EPA chart sorts seafood like crab into lower- and higher-mercury groups. 3
4. Skip uncooked fish and refrigerated smoked seafood unless it's part of a fully cooked, hot dish: the same logic applies to any cold crab preparation of uncertain origin. 4
5. Crab eaten within regional advisory limits carries a low health risk across age groups, including pregnant women, according to testing of mercury and selenium levels in commercially important shellfish. 5

Is crab safe in each trimester?

• First trimester. Your baby's neural development starts in the very first weeks, so the same weekly mercury math applies from day one, even before a positive test. If rich, buttery crab dishes sound unappealing with nausea, skip them: a plainer preparation or another low-mercury protein works just as well.
• Second trimester. Appetite for seafood often comes back in the second trimester. Keep counting crab toward your 2 to 3 weekly servings rather than judging each meal on its own, since mercury exposure adds up across the whole week.
• Third trimester. The mercury guidance stays the same, but the food-safety stakes rise now: a listeria infection in late pregnancy is more likely to cause serious complications. This is the trimester to be strictest about ordering crab fully cooked and skipping any cold, unheated crab of uncertain origin.