Foods to Avoid in Pregnancy: The Full List, From Deli Meat to Soft Cheese

Pregnancy comes with a long list of food rules, and most of them boil down to one idea: lower your odds of a foodborne infection or a contaminant that a growing baby is more sensitive to. Your immune system shifts during pregnancy, which makes some infections more likely and more serious. The good news is that the list of foods to actually avoid is shorter than the internet makes it feel, and many "off-limits" foods are perfectly fine once you cook or reheat them.

Below is the full checklist, grouped by why each food matters. Think of it as a triage tool, not a source of guilt. Ranges and risks here are about probability, not certainty, and one slip rarely causes harm.

Listeria risks: the cold cuts, soft cheese, and smoked fish group

Listeria is a bacterium that most people shrug off, but in pregnancy it can cross the placenta and lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, or serious newborn infection. It is the reason several everyday foods land on the avoid list.

Deli meat, hot dogs, and dry sausages

Cold, ready-to-eat meats are the classic listeria worry. The fix is simple. The CDC lists deli meat, cold cuts, hot dogs, and fermented or dry sausages as safer choices when they are heated to 165F or until steaming hot. The unheated versions are the ones to avoid.

So a cold turkey sandwich is a skip, but the same turkey heated until it steams is fine. Eat it soon after heating, and do not let it cool back down on the counter.

Soft cheeses and unpasteurized dairy

Avoid soft cheeses made from unpasteurized (raw) milk, such as some queso fresco, brie, camembert, and blue-veined cheeses, according to the CDC. Also skip any raw (unpasteurized) milk or products made from it.

You do not have to give up cheese. Hard cheeses are fine, and so are cottage cheese, cream cheese, string cheese, and feta or mozzarella when they are made with pasteurized milk. Read the label. "Pasteurized" is the word you are looking for.

Pate and refrigerated smoked fish

Pate, including vegetarian pate, is on the NHS avoid list because of listeria risk. Cold-smoked fish like smoked salmon (the lox-style kind) can also carry listeria, so save it for cooked dishes or skip it during pregnancy.

Mercury and seafood: which fish to limit and which to skip

Fish is genuinely good for you and your baby. It is a source of protein and omega-3 fats that support brain development. The catch is mercury, which can affect a developing nervous system, so the goal is to choose lower-mercury fish rather than cut fish out.

Avoid the four highest-mercury fish: shark, swordfish, king mackerel, and tilefish. The NHS also names marlin alongside shark and swordfish as fish to avoid.

For the fish you can eat, aim for 8 to 12 ounces a week of lower-mercury options, says HealthyChildren.org from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Good picks include salmon, shrimp, pollock, catfish, and canned light tuna. Albacore (white) tuna runs higher in mercury, so keep it to no more than 6 ounces a week.

One more note on seafood: raw and undercooked fish, including sushi made with raw fish and raw shellfish like oysters, are best avoided because of infection risk. Cooked sushi rolls and fully cooked shellfish are a different story.

Raw and undercooked foods: meat, eggs, and sprouts

This group is about germs that cooking destroys. Heat is your friend here, just like with deli meat.

Meat and poultry

Avoid raw or undercooked meat and poultry. The CDC advises cooking poultry to 165F and ground meats like beef and pork to 160F. A meat thermometer takes the guesswork out of it. That rare steak or pink burger is worth skipping for now.

Eggs

Skip raw or undercooked (runny) eggs and foods that contain them, such as homemade mayonnaise, certain dressings, raw cookie dough, and lightly cooked eggs with runny yolks. Cook eggs until the yolks and whites are firm. In the UK, the NHS notes British Lion stamped eggs are considered safe to eat with a runnier yolk, but that mark does not apply to US eggs.

Sprouts

Raw sprouts, including alfalfa and bean sprouts, can trap bacteria in ways that rinsing does not fix. The CDC says to cook sprouts until they are steaming hot before eating them.

A quick word on produce: wash all fruits and vegetables well, and eat cut melon soon after slicing rather than letting it sit, since cut melon has been linked to listeria.

Cured meats, liver, and a few extras

Cold cured meats like salami, chorizo, prosciutto, and pepperoni can carry the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis. The NHS suggests cooking these meats before eating, or freezing them first, if you want to include them.

Liver and liver products are worth limiting because they are very high in vitamin A, which can be harmful to a developing baby in large amounts. This is also why you skip high-dose vitamin A supplements unless your provider specifically recommends them.

Alcohol belongs on the avoid list too. There is no amount established as safe in pregnancy, so the simplest choice is none.

Caffeine: the 200 mg line

You do not have to quit caffeine, but you do want to keep it in check. The NHS advises no more than 200 mg of caffeine a day, noting that going over that can increase the risk of complications such as low birth weight.

Roughly speaking, 200 mg is about one 12-ounce cup of brewed coffee. The tricky part is the hidden sources. Tea, soda, energy drinks, and even chocolate add to your daily total, so count all of them, not just your morning coffee.

When to call your provider

Most of the time, eating something on this list once is not a cause for alarm. The body usually handles a single small exposure without any problem, and the overall risk from any one food is low.

Reach out to your provider if you develop a fever, chills, body aches, severe or persistent diarrhea, or flu-like symptoms, especially in the days or weeks after eating a higher-risk food. Those can signal a foodborne infection that is worth checking. And if you are simply unsure whether a food was safe, a quick call to your prenatal care team beats a night of worrying. They would much rather answer the question than have you stress over it.