Is it safe to eat soft boiled or raw eggs during pregnancy?
Eating softboiled or raw eggs is not recommended while you are pregnant because of the risk that the eggs may be contaminated with salmonella bacteria. However, thorough cooking kills the bacteria. Eggs that have been cooked until both the yolk and the white are solid are safe – you can eat them. It’s best to avoid home-made sorbets, meringues, mousses, and mayonnaise, as raw eggs are sometimes used to make these foods. Supermarket mayonnaise in jars is made with pasteurised eggs, so it is safe to eat. Salmonella food poisoning is an extremely unpleasant illness. Symptoms include severe vomiting and diarrhoea, very high temperatures, and dehydration. Your doctor will prescribe antibiotics, and you will need to replace the fluids your body has lost. Sometimes hospital treatment is needed. When you are pregnant, your immune system is not functioning as well as usual, so you are more susceptible to all the germs responsible for food poisoning and are more likely to be badly affected. Salm
