Can you eat cockles when pregnant?

Find out if it's safe to eat cockles during pregnancy, plus precautions to take to keep yourself and your baby healthy.

The official advice on eating cockles in pregnancy

Raw cockles

As with all seafood, you should avoid eating raw cockles while you're pregnant. This is because they can cause food poisoning.

During pregnancy, you're more susceptible to food poisoning. While it's unlikely to do your baby any harm, it can be very unpleasant, so experts advise taking a little extra caution to avoid food poisoning while you're pregnant. This includes avoiding uncooked seafood.

Cooked cockles

According to the NHS, cooked seafood is safe to eat during pregnancy. The bacteria and viruses that can cause food poisoning are killed off during cooking, so cooked cockles should be safe to eat.

Cockles from public waters

If you like to harvest your own cockles from public waters, such as a nearby beach or estuary, it's best to be wary. Cockles bought from shops are safe to eat cooked, but those taken from public waters can contain toxins, so it's important to make sure the cockles you eat are from safe water. Your local council can advise you on whether the water is safe.

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Delicious seafood recipes

Love seafood? Why not try one of these great pregnancy-safe recipes?

• Prawn stir-fry
• Crab cakes
• Easy paella
• Fish pie
• Garlic prawns

We like The Whole 9 Months, a week-by-week pregnancy nutrition guide, packed full of recipes and medical advice. See more details here at Amazon.

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Looking for more pregnancy diet info? Check out our articles below, or swap tips with other mums-to-be in our forum.

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