Gruyere is safe to eat during pregnancy. The CDC explicitly lists Swiss, Gruyere, and Emmental as safer cheese choices for pregnant people, placing them in the same category as Cheddar, Parmesan, and Asiago. The key reason: Gruyere is a hard cheese with low moisture, and that physical property makes it highly resistant to the bacteria that pose a risk during pregnancy.
Why Hard Cheeses Are Low Risk
The main concern with cheese during pregnancy is Listeria, a bacterium that pregnant people are significantly more susceptible to than the general population. Listeria thrives in moist, less acidic environments, which is why soft cheeses like Brie, Camembert, queso fresco, and blue cheese are flagged as riskier options.
Gruyere works against Listeria in multiple ways. It has low water activity (meaning less available moisture for bacteria), high concentrations of lactic acid, and a dense texture that results from months of aging. Research modeling Listeria growth across ten common cheese types found that the combination of low moisture and lactic acid concentration accurately predicted whether a cheese could support bacterial growth. Cheeses like Cheddar and Gouda were correctly predicted as no-growth environments, while ricotta, queso fresco, Camembert, and cottage cheese were predicted to support Listeria growth.
Raw Milk Gruyere Is Also Considered Safe
This is where Gruyere gets interesting, because traditional Swiss Gruyere (Gruyère AOP) is made with raw milk. Normally, raw milk cheeses raise a red flag during pregnancy. But hard, long-aged raw milk cheeses are an exception.
A Swiss food safety report reviewed specifically for pregnancy concluded that “it is safe even for pregnant women to consume edible, de-rinded portions of extra-hard and hard raw-milk cheeses such as the Swiss varieties Emmentaler, Gruyere and Sbrinz.” In laboratory testing, when raw milk Emmentaler (a very similar cheese) was deliberately contaminated with Listeria, no bacteria were detected after 24 hours or at any point during 120 days of storage. The traditional production method, which involves cooking the curd at high temperatures, combined with months of aging in a low-moisture, acidic environment, effectively eliminates the pathogen.
For context on how different the risk profile is between cheese types: an FDA and Health Canada risk assessment found that a single serving of soft-ripened cheese made from raw milk is 50 to 160 times riskier for listeriosis than the same cheese made from pasteurized milk. Hard cheeses like Gruyere don’t even appear in these risk models because the concern is so low.
One Precaution: Remove the Rind
The interior of Gruyere is where the safety data is strongest. The rind, which sits exposed to the environment during aging and handling, carries a slightly higher chance of surface contamination. The Swiss food safety recommendation specifically mentions “de-rinded portions” when advising pregnant people. This is a simple step: just cut away the outer rind before eating. The interior paste of the cheese is where Listeria has been shown unable to survive.
Cooking Adds Extra Protection
If you’re using Gruyere in fondue, gratins, or croque monsieurs, cooking provides an additional layer of safety. Listeria is killed when food reaches an internal temperature of 165°F (74°C), which happens easily in melted, bubbling cheese dishes. Even at lower temperatures, sustained heat is effective: holding cheese at 150°F (65°C) for about 35 minutes achieves a complete kill of both Listeria and Salmonella in laboratory tests. Any recipe where Gruyere is melted and steaming hot will be well within safe territory.
What to Check on the Label
Most Gruyere sold in U.S. grocery stores will fall into one of two categories. Domestically produced Gruyere-style cheese is typically made with pasteurized milk, and the label will say so. Imported Swiss Gruyère AOP is made with raw milk by tradition, but as noted above, the aging process makes it safe even without pasteurization.
If you want the simplest approach, look for “pasteurized milk” on the ingredient list. The CDC’s safer food list specifically names Gruyere made with pasteurized milk. But if you pick up a wedge of imported Gruyère that says “raw milk” or “lait cru,” the evidence supports its safety for pregnancy as long as you trim the rind. The cheese has been aged for a minimum of five months (often much longer), and both the production process and the final chemistry of the cheese create conditions where Listeria cannot survive.
Cheeses That Are Not in the Same Category
While Gruyere gets a green light, not all cheeses share the same safety profile. The ones to be cautious with during pregnancy include:
- Soft-ripened cheeses like Brie, Camembert, and blue-veined varieties, especially if made from raw milk or served unheated
- Fresh Latin-style cheeses like queso fresco, queso blanco, and requesón, which carry risk even when made with pasteurized milk due to their high moisture content
- Deli-sliced cheeses that have been sitting at the counter, unless heated to steaming hot before eating
The pattern is consistent: the softer and fresher the cheese, the higher the moisture, and the more hospitable it is to Listeria. Gruyere sits at the opposite end of that spectrum.