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Is it bad to eat deli meat when pregnant? I’ve heard everything from it being harmless
to dangerous.
The salt in deli meats isn’t good for you. The listeria and salmonella they sometimes
have is dangerous.
All meat has that risk.
Deli meats in a store display case may be sitting at higher temperatures than would
be ideal to prevent the growth of bacteria. And they may be approaching the end of their
shelf life, if not ruined by sitting on the floor for a day or two before being put back.
That’s just disgusting.
As if the smell of meat in and of itself didn’t make you sick.
I heard that deli meats were as bad as hot dogs.
Hot dogs in some ways are less dangerous if you cook them fully, whereas a lot of people
slap deli meat on a sandwich and eat it. Deli meats are safer if you cook them thoroughly.
At which point, I might as well bake a ham myself.
And listeria is a mild hazard. About 1700 people get sick with it each year, though
pregnant women are 20 times more likely to die of it and 20% more likely to get it.
Whereas millions get salmonella and food poisoning. And your risk of norovirus is a million times
higher if you step on a cruise ship.
It goes up, but it isn’t that bad.
If getting a stomach bug on your vacation isn’t bad enough, you get sick along with
hundreds of others on a cruise ship where there isn’t enough capacity to handle all
the bodily fluids.
Yes, in that case, the smell and sight of sewage running down the walls makes you sick
even if uninfected. In fact, talking about this makes me ill now.
But I am up to a turkey sandwich if you’re OK with it.