Can you eat mascarpone when pregnant?

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

The official advice on eating mascarpone in pregnancy

Good news, mascarpone is safe to eat during pregnancy. You can eat it in sweet and savoury dishes or on its own.

The NHS says it's safe to eat soft cheese like mascarpone when you're pregnant, as long as it's made from pasteurised milk. This is because the process of pasteurising kills off any harmful bacteria.

Unpasteurised soft cheeses may contain the bacteria listeria, which in rare cases can cause an infection called listeriosis. Listeriosis can make your unborn baby very unwell and may lead to miscarriage or stillbirth.

Most mascarpone sold in UK shops is pasteurised. If you come across any unpasteurised or 'raw' mascarpone while you're pregnant, you should only eat it if it's thoroughly cooked. Cooking kills off the listeria bacteria, making it safe to eat.

Delicious cream cheese recipes

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

• Carrot layer cake (delicious with mascarpone frosting)
• Spicy cheese dips
• Banana muffins with cream cheese frosting
• Pesto and cream cheese bagels with Quorn sliced fillets
• Tomato, cream cheese and pesto pasta

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.

Take a look at

Foods to avoid in pregnancy: your definitive guide

Confused about what you can and can't eat during pregnancy? These are the foods and drinks you should avoid or cut down on to protect your baby.

View gallery

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

Play video

Pregnant?

Our week-by-week PREGNANCY emails are a must for parents-to-be

Email address

Your due date

Are you the mum, dad, partner, grandparent, surrogate?

Mum Dad Partner Grandparent Surrogate

How many children do you have?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10+

I agree to Netmums processing my Sensitive Personal Data for the purpose of sending me Pregnancy Newsletters.

Please tick if you would like to receive news, offers and information from our trusted and carefully selected partners that we think you might like.

I have read and understood Netmums' Privacy Notice and Terms & Conditions

Sign up

Related stories

What to eat and drink during your pregnancy

CHAT: Pregnancy

Your complete A-Z of pregnancy food and drink safety

This article contains affiliate links, which means we may earn a small amount of money if a reader clicks through and makes a purchase from Amazon. All our articles and reviews are written independently by the Netmums editorial team.