Most cheese is perfectly safe during pregnancy. Hard cheeses like cheddar, parmesan, and Swiss are all fine, and so are many soft cheeses as long as they’re made from pasteurized milk. The main concern is Listeria, a bacteria that pregnant women are 10 times more likely to catch than the general population. Knowing which cheeses carry that risk, and which don’t, lets you enjoy cheese without worry.
Why Listeria Matters During Pregnancy
Listeria is a type of bacteria that can grow even in refrigerated foods. For most healthy adults, it causes mild flu-like symptoms at worst. During pregnancy, though, the consequences are far more serious. About 1 in 25,000 pregnant women in the U.S. are infected each year, and among those who get sick, 1 in 4 lose their pregnancy or their baby shortly after birth.
Listeria thrives in moist, soft cheeses, especially those made with unpasteurized (raw) milk. Pasteurization, the process of heating milk to kill harmful bacteria, eliminates most of the risk. That’s why the type of milk used and the style of cheese both matter when deciding what’s safe.
Cheeses That Are Safe to Eat
Hard and semi-hard cheeses are the easiest category. Their low moisture content makes them inhospitable to Listeria regardless of how the milk was processed. You can eat these freely:
- Cheddar
- Parmesan
- Swiss
- Gouda
- Gruyère
- Manchego
Pasteurized soft cheeses are also safe. These are common in American grocery stores and include mozzarella, ricotta, cream cheese, cottage cheese, and goat cheese sold in tubs or logs labeled “pasteurized.” A 1.5-ounce serving of part-skim mozzarella provides about 333 mg of calcium, which is a meaningful chunk of the roughly 1,000 mg you need daily during pregnancy. A cup of low-fat cottage cheese delivers around 28 grams of protein. Both nutrients are critical for your baby’s bone development and overall growth.
Processed cheese products like American cheese slices and jarred cheese spreads are also safe because they undergo additional heat treatment during manufacturing.
Cheeses to Avoid
The CDC specifically warns against soft cheese made from unpasteurized milk, including brie, camembert, and blue-veined varieties like Roquefort, Gorgonzola, and Danish Blue. These cheeses have high moisture and a surface mold that can create conditions where Listeria grows easily.
Fresh Mexican-style cheeses deserve special attention. Queso fresco, queso blanco, and requesón are flagged as risky even when made with pasteurized milk. Their soft, moist texture and the way they’re handled during production make them more prone to contamination than other pasteurized cheeses. The CDC recommends avoiding all queso fresco-type cheeses during pregnancy unless you heat them to 165°F (steaming hot) before eating.
Cheese sliced at a deli counter is another one to skip unless you heat it first. Deli slicers and surfaces can harbor Listeria, and the cheese sits at temperatures that allow bacterial growth. Pre-packaged sliced cheese from a sealed bag is a safer alternative.
Cooking Makes Risky Cheese Safe
If you’re craving brie on a pizza or a dish with melted queso fresco, cooking can solve the problem. Heating cheese to an internal temperature of 165°F kills Listeria. That means baked brie, blue cheese melted into a hot pasta sauce, or queso fresco in a bubbling casserole are all fine as long as the cheese is heated through, not just warm on the surface. The key visual cue: the cheese should be steaming hot or fully melted and bubbly.
This doesn’t apply to situations where cheese is added cold or at room temperature, like crumbled blue cheese on a salad or a slice of brie on a cheese board. Those servings haven’t been heated enough to eliminate risk.
How to Check the Label
In the U.S., FDA regulations require that pasteurized cheese products clearly state “pasteurized” on the label. Look for the word on the front of the package or in the ingredient list, where it will typically read “pasteurized milk” or “made from pasteurized milk.” If the label says “raw milk” or doesn’t mention pasteurization at all, treat it as unpasteurized.
Most cheese sold in major U.S. grocery stores is pasteurized by default. The places where you’re more likely to encounter unpasteurized cheese are farmers’ markets, specialty cheese shops, imported cheese counters, and restaurants that source artisanal products. When eating out, it’s reasonable to ask whether a soft cheese is pasteurized, especially if the dish includes brie, camembert, feta, or any fresh Mexican-style cheese.
Practical Tips for Everyday Eating
Keep cheese refrigerated at 40°F or below and use it within the timeframe listed on the package. Listeria is unusual among foodborne bacteria because it can multiply slowly at refrigerator temperatures, so even properly stored soft cheese shouldn’t sit around for weeks after opening.
When assembling a cheese plate at home, stick with hard cheeses and pasteurized options. If you’re ordering a charcuterie board at a restaurant, ask which cheeses are included and whether any are unpasteurized or mold-ripened. Most servers can find out quickly.
For cooking, swap in mozzarella or ricotta anywhere a recipe calls for queso fresco if you want to skip the extra step of checking temperature. In dishes that call for blue cheese flavor, a pasteurized blue cheese crumbled into a hot sauce or soup gives you the taste with the safety margin of thorough cooking.