Pregnant at a party, what can you eat and what should you skip?

A good friend is four months pregnant and coming to your birthday drinks. The table holds a board with salami, brie, aged cheese, grapes and crackers topped with smoked salmon. She looks, hesitates and ends up with a breadstick. It can be easier than that.

The good news first. According to the Netherlands Nutrition Centre, the Voedingscentrum, most foods and drinks are fine during pregnancy. It comes down to a handful of things to eat only when properly heated, and a few to leave alone.

Why a pregnant guest is careful

Pregnancy lowers your resistance, so food infections take hold more easily. Most are simply unpleasant for the mother. But infection with the bacterium listeria or the parasite Toxoplasma gondii can cause a miscarriage or premature birth, and toxoplasma can also seriously damage the baby’s eyes and brain.

The chance of infection is very small, the Voedingscentrum stresses, but the consequences can be serious. Listeria is also awkward because, unlike many bacteria, it can grow in the fridge. And you cannot see, smell or taste whether meat carries toxoplasma.

What she can enjoy

A pregnant guest does not have to go home hungry. All of this is fine:

• Hard cheese, such as Dutch farmhouse cheese. Most cheese in the Netherlands is made from heated milk, and even raw milk hard cheese is safe, because bacteria grow more slowly in it.
• Soft cheese made from heated milk, which includes most brie. If the label says ‘au lait cru’ or raw milk, that is another matter.
• Fresh fruit, vegetables and crudités, washed well under running water.
• Meat, chicken, eggs and fish cooked right through, apart from a few kinds of fish covered below.
• Drinks without alcohol, including diet soft drinks with sweeteners such as aspartame.

What only works when properly heated

These turn up on many grazing boards, and a pregnant guest should only eat them properly heated:

• Raw cured meats such as salami, chorizo, cervelat, raw ham and roast beef, plus Dutch favourites like ossenworst, theeworst and filet américain.
• Raw or undercooked meat, such as carpaccio, steak tartare and pink steak.
• Chilled smoked fish such as smoked salmon and trout, and raw fish as in sushi and Dutch maatjes herring.
• Soft cheese made from raw milk, such as Camembert au lait cru, Reblochon and Brie de Coulommiers.
• Dishes with raw egg, such as bavarois, mousse and homemade mayonnaise.

Raw egg can carry salmonella, and pregnant women fall ill more quickly after an infection. Raw milk soft cheese, smoked fish and raw cured meats are fine once properly heated, in the oven for example.

A few things are off the list altogether. Liver contains too much vitamin A, and fish such as mackerel, eel, sardines, tuna, crab and prawns may contain harmful substances. Liver sausage or liver pâté is limited to once a week, thinly spread on a slice of bread.

No alcohol, not even in dessert

On alcohol the advice is clear: don’t drink while pregnant. There is no safe amount. Alcohol reaches the baby through the placenta, and the baby’s blood carries as much alcohol as the mother’s, says the Voedingscentrum’s page on alcohol.

Look at the food too. Cooking does not remove all the alcohol: after flambéing about 75% is still there. Dishes made with alcohol, such as a cream cake with liqueur, are therefore unsuitable for pregnant women. Tiramisu fails twice, since it often contains alcohol and usually raw egg. Made at home without raw egg and without alcohol, it is fine. See also raw eggs in desserts.

So put out something good without alcohol, and check the label. Alcohol free beer may still contain 0.1% alcohol and alcohol free wine 0.5%. Only 0.0% on the label means it is truly alcohol free.

How to make it easy for your guest

• Put a small card by the board listing what is on it, so nobody has to ask whether the brie is raw milk.
• Give the hard cheese, fruit and vegetables a board of their own, away from the salami and smoked salmon.
• Put cured meats, soft cheese and pâté back in the fridge as soon as the drinks are over.
• Simply ask when you invite her, so nobody has to explain on the night.

If your guest is unsure about something, she can look it up in ZwangerHap, the free Dutch app from the Voedingscentrum. And if she has already had a slice of salami? Eating it once carries a very small chance of serious consequences. She should watch for symptoms such as fever, headache, muscle pain, diarrhoea or nausea, and see her midwife or GP if in doubt. For personal questions, they are always the right people to ask.

Chef David Nagib of Maximus Catering makes grazing boards in Ede and the surrounding area, just the way you want them. A board everyone can enjoy starts with knowing who is coming.