Is unpasteurized juice safe during pregnancy?

What does the evidence say about unpasteurized juice during pregnancy?

1. A 1996 outbreak traced to unpasteurized apple juice sickened 66 people and caused one death, and that same year a separate unpasteurized cider outbreak caused more E. coli and parasite infections in the Northeast. 1
2. In lab testing, the E. coli strain behind those outbreaks survived inside unpasteurized apple cider for days, even under refrigeration, unless a preservative was added. 2
3. Unpasteurized orange juice has caused its own multistate outbreak too: in 1999, a Salmonella outbreak linked to fresh-pressed orange juice sickened people across the United States and Canada. 3
4. Pregnant women are one of the groups most likely to get seriously ill from listeria, a germ that spreads through unpasteurized milk and other raw, unprocessed foods. 4
5. Salmonella infections usually mean a few rough days of fever, diarrhea, and cramps, but in about 4% of cases the germ spreads into the bloodstream, which can turn serious. 5

Is unpasteurized juice safe in each trimester?

• First trimester. Morning sickness might have you craving something fresh from a juice bar or farmers market, but skip anything unpasteurized in the first trimester. Look for a bottle labeled pasteurized or HPP processed instead, or just eat the whole fruit.
• Second trimester. The same rule holds in the second trimester: unpasteurized juice and cider are still off the table. Check the label every time, even at a juice bar you trust, since fresh-pressed juice is often unpasteurized by default.
• Third trimester. Keep skipping unpasteurized juice through the third trimester too. If you think you drank some and start feeling feverish, achy, or have stomach symptoms, call your healthcare provider rather than waiting it out.