With the recent FDA recall on frozen packaged fruits, what is the risk of toxoplasmosis or listeria contamination? Is it safer to buy fresh fruits, wash them myself, and then freeze them? I’m trying to find the best practice to safely consume smoothies while I’m pregnant. Thank you for your advice!
—My First Rodeo
The FDA recall you cite is here; there was a concern about listeria in some pineapple that may have exposed a number of lots of frozen fruit to this pathogen. Encouragingly, this recall is not yet associated with any illnesses. In other words, they found possible evidence of listeria in the manufacturing process, but not as a result of someone getting ill.
As I talk about in Expecting Better, listeria is a complicated risk. It is harmful — listeria infection in pregnancy is very dangerous and can lead to miscarriage and stillbirth, among other complications. However, it is also rare, and it tends to crop up sporadically. There are some consistent sources of exposure — queso fresco, for example, and poorly managed hot food buffets — but most outbreaks of listeria illness seem random (bean sprouts, cantaloupe, ice cream, frozen vegetables). This makes them hard to predict, and changing any one particular behavior is unlikely to change your risk in a meaningful way.
Put differently: you might change your behavior to buy fresh fruits, and then next week it might come out that fresh blueberries are found to be contaminated with listeria.
My advice to you is, as per the FDA recall, if you have any of these lots of frozen fruits in your house, dispose of them. And then after that, make your smoothies with whatever is easiest, and try not to think about this.
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