Is Pâté safe during pregnancy?

What does the evidence say about Pâté during pregnancy?

1. Refrigerated pâté is named specifically, right alongside soft cheese and deli meat, as a food to skip during pregnancy because of listeria risk. 1
2. Listeria spreads through ready-to-eat foods like chilled pâté and deli meats, and it can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, or a serious newborn infection. 2
3. Cold cuts and ready-to-eat meats are only considered lower-risk once they're heated until steaming hot, and pâté served chilled from the deli case skips that safety step entirely. 3
4. Liver is one of the most concentrated food sources of preformed vitamin A, and too much of it during pregnancy has been linked to birth defects affecting the eyes, skull, lungs, and heart. 4
5. Health experts set the upper daily limit for vitamin A in pregnancy at about 3,000 mcg RAE (10,000 IU), an amount a few servings of liver pâté can push you past without any supplement involved. 5

Is Pâté safe in each trimester?

• First trimester. This is when your baby's organs are forming, so it's the worst possible time for extra preformed vitamin A from liver pâté to build up. If a craving hits, try a freshly made bean dip or a shelf-stable spread instead.
• Second trimester. The listeria risk from chilled pâté doesn't go away just because morning sickness has eased up. Keep it off your plate and pick a fully cooked dip or spread if you want something rich and savory.
• Third trimester. A listeria infection late in pregnancy is more likely to trigger preterm labor or affect your baby, so this isn't the trimester to make an exception. Stick with hot, freshly cooked spreads instead of anything from the chilled deli case.