Risks and dangers of stracchino in pregnancy
Stracchino in pregnancy is often the subject of discussion together with the whole category of fresh cheeses. But can they be eaten during the 9 months before giving birth? It is true, during pregnancy the attention towards what you eat must be very high, but there are some foods that are strongly discouraged and others that it is good to keep in the diet. Before continuing, watch this video with the foods to watch out for during pregnancy.
What is stracchino cheese?
Stracchino is a slightly seasoned soft cheese, it can be produced with raw or pasteurized milk, in any case whole. The name of this cheese derives from the fact that the cows, returning tired from summer grazing in the mountain pastures, being therefore "stracche", produced little milk, with which stracchino cheese was made. Already from this first definition, one can imagine why this food could be harmful and risky if eaten by a pregnant woman: unpasteurized and therefore raw milk could contain bacteria capable of bringing the future mother an "infection such as listeria.
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The importance of cheeses in pregnancy
The balanced diet in pregnancy is the best you can choose to live the 9 months before childbirth seriously, avoiding putting on too many pounds that are difficult to dispose of once the pregnancy is over. Cheeses need to be part of your meal plan mainly because they allow you to get the correct dose of calcium. But which ones are safe and suitable for gestation and which ones are dangerous and therefore to be excluded if you are pregnant? We will see below if stracchino is allowed, but we will try to broaden the discussion to pasteurized cheeses, soft cheeses and finally we will also talk about non-pasteurized ones.
Can i eat stracchino cheese when pregnant?
All future mothers, as soon as they discover that they are pregnant, begin to worry about the diet by controlling it more to avoid repercussions on the fetus due to dangerous bacteria. The question therefore arises spontaneously: which cheeses can be included in the weekly menus? Stracchino in pregnancy? Stracchino cheese in pregnancy falls within the category of soft cheeses and here it is important to make a distinction between cheeses such as stracchino and fresh cheeses in general. Stracchino packaged and purchased at the supermarket, by law, will have among its ingredients pasteurized milk, which has undergone a cooking process to eliminate all bacteria and risky agents. Consequently this cheese with packaged pasteurized milk, is allowed during pregnancy because it is not dangerous. The situation changes, however, for fresh cheeses, between which, among other things, also include crescenza, mozzarella, burrata, flakes of milk and first salt cheese.
Stracchino in pregnancy: the risks
Fresh cheeses, also known as raw milk cheeses, should be avoided during pregnancy because they can be very risky due to bacteria. The greatest risk of eating fresh cheeses during pregnancy is given by listeria, an infection that involves fever, nausea, diarrhea, muscle aches. Migraines, confusion, stiff neck and loss of balance are the symptoms of listeriosis when you it spreads to the nervous system. Listeriosis in pregnancy is in fact a serious risk, caused by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes which affects pregnant women in less severe cases with the above symptoms. listeriosis, the fetus risks encephalitis and meningitis.
Fresh cheeses differ from packaged ones primarily because they have a short expiration date; to be even more precise, here is a list of raw milk cheeses that should be avoided during pregnancy:
- Stracchino not packaged
- Unpackaged Crescence
- Fresh burrata
- Fresh first salt from the dairy
- Unpackaged Squaquerone
- Fresh cheese from the dairy
Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano, on the other hand, even if they are made with raw milk, being hard cheeses, they cannot carry listeria and are safe in pregnancy. In general, stracchino in pregnancy, if packaged, can be eaten and has no affinity with toxoplasmosis.
Does stracchino cheese make you fat in pregnancy?
The fear of pregnant women is that stracchino during pregnancy makes you fat, but in reality, as with all foods, it is enough to never overdo the quantities, and alternate it with other sources of fiber, carbohydrates and proteins.
As we said, stracchino in pregnancy, if packaged and made with pasteurized milk, can be eaten without problems and should not cause concern. And the others? There are many more cheeses allowed during gestation because aged cheeses such as Parmesan, pecorino, emmenthal and gruyere are also included in the list.
Dangerous cheeses
Some cheeses are considered dangerous for the risk of Listeria, but what are they? Excluding the hard ones that are allowed, let's see which types end up in the "to avoid" list.
Listeriosis in pregnancy can be easily contracted with all those blue cheeses, which have mold, greasy rind and semi-soft paste: gorgonzola, brie, tomino and mascarpone. If eaten raw, they can be very dangerous, but when cooked, can they be eaten?
Listeriosis bacterium could develop in cheese molds such as Brie, Camembert and other cheeses with a semi-soft white rind.
It is good to specify that if you eat gorgonzola cooked during pregnancy, such as on pizza, then the danger does not exist. In fact, Listeria does not survive the heat, cooking at 65 ° C is sufficient to consider the product more than safe.
