How to Ensure Proper Consumption of Fish and Seafood During Pregnancy

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Safe to eat

• cooked fish
• cooked shellfish, including prawns, crab, lobster, squid, mussels, scallops, clams and cockles
• sushi made with cooked fish or cooked shellfish

Foods to limit

• tuna – you should not eat more than 4 cans or 2 tuna steaks a week
• oily fish including salmon, trout, mackerel, sardines and herring – you should not eat more than 2 portions a week

Tuna and oily fish can contain pollutants, including mercury, that can be harmful for your baby if you eat too much.

Foods to be careful with

• cold-smoked and cured fish, like smoked salmon – these must be cooked until steaming hot
• cold, pre-cooked ready-to-eat prawns – these must be cooked until steaming hot
• pre-packaged sandwiches and salads containing fish and shellfish – keep them chilled and eat them before the use-by date

Although the risk is low, some ready-to-eat foods like pre-packaged sandwiches and salads may also contain listeria bacteria, which can cause listeriosis.

Listeriosis can cause miscarriage or stillbirth, or make your newborn baby seriously ill.

Foods to avoid

• raw fish and raw shellfish
• sushi made with raw fish (even if it has been previously frozen) or raw shellfish
• swordfish
• shark
• marlin

Why some fish is not safe to eat

You should avoid raw, cold-smoked and cured fish because it could contain listeria bacteria, which can cause listeriosis.

Listeriosis can cause miscarriage or stillbirth, or make your newborn baby seriously ill.

You should also avoid raw shellfish because they can contain bacteria or toxins that can make you seriously unwell or give you food poisoning.