# Summer Sausage?



## sjwebb

My husband bought some and I've read conflicting things. Can I have it, can I not have it? If I can't I'm going to freak out and probably eat it anyway :haha:


----------



## Kristin52

I listen to basically nothing when it comes to food. I eat what I'm hungry for, and what I crave. I won't eat raw squid or anything like that, but I say go for it! Just make sure it's cooked or not raw! and enjoy!


----------



## Skadi

As long as you cook it before you eat it, you should be fine.


----------



## amjon

I would heat it up first. It should be fine if you do that.


----------



## sjwebb

Its just not as good hot :( ugh. Its never made me sick before so why should it bother me now?


----------



## Chasesmommy

LMAO! While reading the replies I was thinking, "mmmm summer sausage COLD on a cracker sounds delicious!" 

My doc told me if it never made you sick before you got pregnant, it probably won't now. But ya never know when you might get a hold of something that went bad or had listeria in it. You can't predict that or prevent it though really (I mean seriously who would have thought cantaloupe had listeria! It's all I ate the first few weeks after I found out I was pregnant!) 

It wouldn't hurt to cook it but you're right, it is much better NOT cooked. :)


----------



## sjwebb

Who the hell makes up these rules?! As if pregnany isnt hard enough, they want to deprive us of everything. All I want is some COLD, summer sausage on ritz crackers with cheese. If I heat it up, I think its just going to be nasty and I won't want it anymore haha.


----------



## babymomma37

Maybe if you heat ot up for a bit to kill the bacteria then let it sit for a minute untill it cools off? dont worry i LOVE summer sasuage and now im sad that i cant just cut a piece off and eat it :( haha


----------



## pixeldust

sjwebb said:


> Who the hell makes up these rules?! As if pregnany isnt hard enough, they want to deprive us of everything. All I want is some COLD, summer sausage on ritz crackers with cheese. If I heat it up, I think its just going to be nasty and I won't want it anymore haha.


To be fair, it's not about depriving anyone of anything, it's minimizing the risk of contracting listeria which could kill your unborn baby. If you want to accept that risk, then eat whatever you want!


----------



## Kristin52

pixeldust said:


> sjwebb said:
> 
> 
> Who the hell makes up these rules?! As if pregnany isnt hard enough, they want to deprive us of everything. All I want is some COLD, summer sausage on ritz crackers with cheese. If I heat it up, I think its just going to be nasty and I won't want it anymore haha.
> 
> 
> To be fair, it's not about depriving anyone of anything, it's minimizing the risk of contracting listeria which could kill your unborn baby. If you want to accept that risk, then eat whatever you want!Click to expand...


That was uncalled for, I think. 
You could have worded that a little better, instead of basically saying eat what you want but you could kill your baby.


----------



## SawD

I am not ashamed I ate summer sausage and I did so cold.. numm numm. I got mine from a local place I trust. The kind of place they give you a fresh piece of jerky to chew on while you decide what to get. If I let fear rule what I eat, it would not leave very many things to eat. Just my thoughts. Do not beat yourself up if you have something. everything in moderation as they say. If unsure ginny pig the hubby! Have him eat it and if he is fine the next day, then dig in.. thats what I do anyways lol


----------



## pixeldust

Kristin52 said:


> pixeldust said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sjwebb said:
> 
> 
> Who the hell makes up these rules?! As if pregnany isnt hard enough, they want to deprive us of everything. All I want is some COLD, summer sausage on ritz crackers with cheese. If I heat it up, I think its just going to be nasty and I won't want it anymore haha.
> 
> 
> To be fair, it's not about depriving anyone of anything, it's minimizing the risk of contracting listeria which could kill your unborn baby. If you want to accept that risk, then eat whatever you want!Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That was uncalled for, I think.
> You could have worded that a little better, instead of basically saying eat what you want but you could kill your baby.Click to expand...

I disagree. You read it however you like, my words were factual, not emotive.


----------



## SAJ

I have also had summer sausage from our local grocery store. I've put it on buns with butter (cuz that's TOTALLY healthy lol) and I enjoyed every bite. Everything in moderation I'd say. P.S. my baby is fine.


----------



## SAJ

pixeldust said:


> Kristin52 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixeldust said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sjwebb said:
> 
> 
> Who the hell makes up these rules?! As if pregnany isnt hard enough, they want to deprive us of everything. All I want is some COLD, summer sausage on ritz crackers with cheese. If I heat it up, I think its just going to be nasty and I won't want it anymore haha.
> 
> 
> To be fair, it's not about depriving anyone of anything, it's minimizing the risk of contracting listeria which could kill your unborn baby. If you want to accept that risk, then eat whatever you want!Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That was uncalled for, I think.
> You could have worded that a little better, instead of basically saying eat what you want but you could kill your baby.Click to expand...
> 
> I disagree. You read it however you like, my words were factual, not emotive.Click to expand...

That logic can be applied to many many situations and I'm guessing we all don't refrain from every such situation.


----------



## pixeldust

SAJ said:


> pixeldust said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Kristin52 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> pixeldust said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sjwebb said:
> 
> 
> Who the hell makes up these rules?! As if pregnany isnt hard enough, they want to deprive us of everything. All I want is some COLD, summer sausage on ritz crackers with cheese. If I heat it up, I think its just going to be nasty and I won't want it anymore haha.
> 
> 
> To be fair, it's not about depriving anyone of anything, it's minimizing the risk of contracting listeria which could kill your unborn baby. If you want to accept that risk, then eat whatever you want!Click to expand...
> 
> 
> That was uncalled for, I think.
> You could have worded that a little better, instead of basically saying eat what you want but you could kill your baby.Click to expand...
> 
> I disagree. You read it however you like, my words were factual, not emotive.Click to expand...
> 
> That logic can be applied to many many situations and I'm guessing we all don't refrain from every such situation.Click to expand...

Exactly. It's an individual choice and one each woman has to make. But the recommendations aren't in place to "deprive" us of anything, or put there by killjoys, they are there to minimize risk. That is a fact. Not an emotive response.

At the end of the day, if people want to eat raw chicken, that's their choice, they choose to accept the risk. Same with all the stuff recommended against during pregnancy.

Do I accept the risk of catching the bus to work knowing it might crash? Yes. Because the alternative (walking 12km per day) is not simple. 

Do I accept the risk of crossing the street? Yes. Because there is no other simple alternative to get to the other side. 

Do I (personally) accept the risk of eating food my midwife warned me against eating due to the potential danger of listeria to my baby? No. In my mind, I have a million alternatives and it's not forever. 

Personal choice :)


----------



## Stormynights

I had it early in my pregnancy, and everything is fine. :thumbup:


----------



## Stormynights

And about the whole listeria thing, they say not to eat lunch meat cold right? But they don't say anything about fruits/vegetables because they're what we are supposed to eat. I've never heard of a listeria outbreak before the other day, and surprise, it was in CANTALOUPE!! Now I'm scared of eating fruit, a few people even died from it.


----------



## Skadi

Stormynights said:


> And about the whole listeria thing, they say not to eat lunch meat cold right? But they don't say anything about fruits/vegetables because they're what we are supposed to eat. I've never heard of a listeria outbreak before the other day, and surprise, it was in CANTALOUPE!! Now I'm scared of eating fruit, a few people even died from it.

They DO say about Fruits and Vegetables, and I'm sure its something you have heard since a child! WASH your fruit and Vegs! As long as you wash fruit and vegetables before eating you should be ok. The Listeria will sit on the outside and get inside the fruit when you cut into it. (The Listeria related to the Cantaloupe would have been sitting on the rind - simply scrubbing it with water ahead of time would have removed risk of contamination to the actual fruit when cut into!)


----------



## MissIntrigue

I was bad and had some garlic coil (garlic sausage) on crackers during our thanksgiving a few weeks ago... didn't heat it up. Since it was freshly packed and smelled fine I just went for it lol. Didn't get sick and bubs is still dancing around in me so all is good


----------



## Sam182

Someone mentioned heating then cooling food before you eat it - PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS! it causes more bacteria and would be more harmful! If you heat something to kill the bacteria then make sure you eat it hot!


----------



## USAFKnineWife

I've had summer sausage a few days ago. It was Hillshire Farms and the only brand that I have ever eaten. I didn't heat it up either. I have eaten it in every pregnancy that I have had and things were just fine. Although I don't eat it every day nor do I eat a lot of it. To each their own I say.


----------



## Skadi

If there was listeria in every piece of Summer Sausage or Cold Cut Meat then nobody would eat it. The point is that you never know if something is contaminated with listeria - and it will not look, taste or smell off either! It just takes one bite to get deathly sick. Also it can take up to two months sometimes for symptoms to appear. Pregnant women are much much much more susceptible to it than the rest of the population (20x more likely btw) and with a mortality rate of 25% you would think we would be a lot more careful. Even if YOU surivive the baby would not - it generally leads to miscarriage, stillbirth or an extremely ill baby.


----------



## Cazlabump

British Girly here - what on earth is Summer Sausage? lol xx


----------



## CeeDee

I love summer sausage as well, but I'm going to pass on it while pregnant unless I heat it up. When my mom was pregnant with my sister she was so broke that most of the time she ate bologna sandwiches. Now that's a no no.


----------



## ssuchianlo

Haha...summer sausage sounds so good...and this is the season for it. We get booths set up in the mall that sell all kinds of variations on it. Yum! I guess if you're really worried heat it to steaming like we're supposed to do if we eat deli meats. You could also ask you doctor. 

Man...I really want some now!


----------



## Skadi

Cazlabump said:


> British Girly here - what on earth is Summer Sausage? lol xx

It's a type of cured sausage - kind of similar to Salami I guess?


----------



## Cazlabump

Skadi said:


> Cazlabump said:
> 
> 
> British Girly here - what on earth is Summer Sausage? lol xx
> 
> It's a type of cured sausage - kind of similar to Salami I guess?Click to expand...

aha! thankyou :D I can now fully appreciate this thread haha :D xx


----------



## sjwebb

I guess I can heat it up and put it back in the fridge right? To cool it back down once any bacteria is killed?


----------



## Mari30me

sjwebb said:


> Who the hell makes up these rules?! As if pregnany isnt hard enough, they want to deprive us of everything. All I want is some COLD, summer sausage on ritz crackers with cheese. If I heat it up, I think its just going to be nasty and I won't want it anymore haha.

I had some a couple of weeks ago and I was just fine. :) I was craving it soo bad. I say if you want, have it!


----------



## Mari30me

and I did not heat it up either! lol I do not eat it very often, but just had to have it at the time


----------



## Sam182

sjwebb said:


> I guess I can heat it up and put it back in the fridge right? To cool it back down once any bacteria is killed?

As I said previously- please do not do this! It causes more bacteria!!!! If you heat something up you have to eat it whilst it's hot!!


----------



## sjwebb

Thanks Mari! Thats the answer I was looking for. I just don't want to be scared to eat something.


----------



## Mari30me

sjwebb said:


> Thanks Mari! Thats the answer I was looking for. I just don't want to be scared to eat something.

Np! :) I actually ate summer sausage once in a while with my 1st 2 pregnancies as well and no harm was done:)


----------



## sjwebb

And also let me clarify my statement earlier about "depriving" us women of food we like. It wasn't a serious statement. Obviously some people cant tell sarcasim. I obviously understand that there are tons of things that could hurt my baby, but again, you didn't need to be so literal.. And let me say thanks Kristin for your kind replys.


----------



## Kristin52

No problem :)


----------

