Seafood during pregnancy

Every seafood entry, with a verdict

Sorted with the ones worth knowing about first. Avoid means skip it entirely; take care means it depends on how it was prepared.

• Roe

  Avoid

  Fish eggs, or roe, or caviar, is a very nutritious meal, offering a variety of vitamins, minerals and fats that are valuable for your child's development: omega-3 fatty acids, which support your baby's brain growth and are involved in nerve development, vitamin C, vitamin A, vitamin E, thiamin, riboflavin, folate, vitamin B-12, niacin, pantothenic acid, phosphorus, zinc and selenium. But the chilled salted kind — caviar from the jar, the roe on your sushi — is ready-to-eat fish, and that can carry listeria, which crosses the placenta. Stick to roe that was pasteurized or cooked into a hot dish.

• Raw shellfish

  Avoid

  As with lots of raw products, undercooked shellfish, which include oysters, clams, and mussels, can be contaminated and cause an infection. Raw shellfish pose a concern for everybody, and they should be avoided altogether during pregnancy.

• Raw and smoked seafood

  Avoid

  Refrigerated, smoked seafood often labeled as lox, nova style, kippered, or jerky is not the best idea when you are pregnant, as it can be contaminated with listeria. Canned or shelf-safe smoked seafood is usually fine to eat. You can also eat smoked seafood as dangerous bacteria die when seafood is heated until piping hot (165 °F or 74 °C) — cooked into a pasta or a quiche, smoked salmon is back on the menu.

• Well-cooked seafood

  Safe

  Seafood is a great product for pregnant women, it provides nutrients that are important for baby's early development and also your health. Seafood is high in protein, vitamin D, and other nutrients that are crucial for a developing baby and a healthy pregnancy. Good choices include shrimp and crab — both are FDA Best Choices, and the FDA wants you eating 8–12 oz of seafood a week, not less. Make sure that you trust the seafood company (or the place where you are going to order it). Remember that you can eat only well-cooked seafood, that was steamed or cooked through to 145°F (63°C), otherwise malicious bacteria can survive and do harm to you and your baby.

• Well-cooked shellfish

  Safe

  It's more than okay to eat well-cooked shellfish: oysters, clams, mussels, shrimp, crab and scallops are all FDA Best Choices, low in mercury and full of protein, iron, zinc and B12. Cook to 145°F (63°C), or until clams, mussels and oysters open — throw out any that stay shut. Red tides are not your worry either: commercial beds are monitored and closed when algal toxins turn up, so buy from a shop or restaurant you would trust anyway. Raw oysters and clams are the real exception; leave those until after the birth.

• Brown seaweed

  Safe

  You can definitely consume brown seaweed like kelp, kombu, wakame or arame — it is a good source of iodine, and you need 220 mcg a day now. Kelp and kombu are the strong ones, so treat those two as a seasoning and vary what you eat. Seaweed snacks may be very high in sodium. Not US guidance, but worth knowing: the UK, Australian, Canadian and Hong Kong food agencies advise against hijiki (Sargassum fusiforme), which takes up more arsenic than other seaweeds.

• Red or green seaweed

  Safe

  A garnish, not a bowlful — seaweed is packed with iodine. Nori, karengo and dulse are the usual ones.

• Canned seafood

  Safe

  Canned seafood is okay to eat and cook, make sure the cans are fresh, store in the fridge, and eat within 2 days after opening.

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