Is goat cheese safe during pregnancy?

What does the evidence say about goat cheese during pregnancy?

1. Soft cheeses like feta, brie, camembert, and blue-veined varieties are on the avoid list unless the label confirms pasteurized milk, and rind-covered fresh chevre belongs in that same soft, mold-ripened category. 1
2. Heating food until it's steaming, at least 165°F, kills the Listeria bacterium, which is why goat cheese fully melted into a hot dish is a different story from the same cheese served cold, straight from the log. 1
3. A 2021 multistate Listeria outbreak, 13 cases with 12 hospitalizations and 1 death, was traced to a fresh, soft Hispanic-style cheese, and that fresh-cheese category can still get contaminated during production even when made with pasteurized milk. 2
4. About two-thirds of pregnancy-related Listeria infections show up in the third trimester, compared with roughly 3 percent in the first, and the infection raises the risk of fetal or newborn death by about 21 percent. 3
5. Ready-to-eat soft cheeses and deli meats, not hard or thoroughly cooked forms, are the most common route of Listeria infection, and pregnant women are among the groups with the highest listeriosis mortality risk. 4

Is goat cheese safe in each trimester?

• First trimester. The same rule applies from your very first prenatal visit onward. A soft, bloomy-rind, ash-coated, or unlabeled fresh chevre needs the same caution in week six as it would in week thirty-six.
• Second trimester. Nothing new applies in the second trimester, but as morning sickness eases, spreadable and rind-covered cheeses tend to reappear on cheese boards and in salads. That's exactly when it's easy to skip checking the label.
• Third trimester. Research on pregnancy-related listeriosis has found the third trimester carries more than its share of confirmed cases, right when appetite for soft cheese often comes back. Reaching for a hard, aged wedge or a fully melted preparation keeps the odds in your favor.