Can you eat pepperoni and Peperami when pregnant?

Find out if it's safe to eat pepperoni, including pepperoni pizza, raw pepperoni, cooked pepperoni, cold pepperoni, pepperoni sticks and Peperami during pregnancy. Plus precautions to take to keep you and your baby healthy.

The official advice on eating pepperoni in pregnancy

The NHS doesn't say you should avoid eating pepperoni completely when pregnant, but it does advise being cautious.

This is because cold cured meats like pepperoni aren't cooked, so there's a very small risk of food poisoning. Raw meat can contain parasites that cause toxoplasmosis, an infection which can cause health problems for your baby and in rare cases miscarriage or stillbirth.

Many pregnant women prefer to only eat pepperoni if cooked. According to NHS Wales, you can also freeze it for four days before eating to kill off any parasites.

What about pepperoni pizza?

The pepperoni on pizza is usually cooked with the pizza so is safe to eat.

Can I eat Peperami?

Good news! The Peparami website says the meat in the original Peperami is pasteurised so safe to eat during pregnancy.

However, it says the Peperami & Cheese Snack Box, Peperami Snack Packs, and Peperami Beef are not pasteurised so shouldn't be eaten.

Delicious cured meat recipes

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

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• Homemade pizza
• Feta, Parma ham and tomato crustless quiche (make sure you use British Lion eggs)
• Chorizo hotpot
• Chicken and chorizo stew

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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