Can I eat quiche while pregnant?

The verdict

Yes, when it is freshly baked and hot. Quiche is one of the few foods that appears in official pregnancy guidance as a solution rather than a problem.

The Food Standards Agency, explaining what pregnant women can eat instead of cold-smoked fish, names cooked smoked fish in dishes such as quiche, fish cakes, pie or gratin, because cooking will kill any listeria that may be present. A smoked salmon quiche is on the safer side of that advice, while a smoked salmon bagel is not.

The same logic covers the rest of a quiche. Baking cooks the eggs, so the raw egg question does not arise. It cooks the cheese, so soft cheese restrictions do not apply. It cooks the bacon or ham, so the cold cured meat rules do not apply.

What is left is a handling question about the cold slice, which is where all the actual caution belongs.

Why baking resolves so much at once

A quiche filling is an egg custard baked until set, typically at 180C for thirty to forty minutes. The centre comfortably exceeds the thresholds every authority uses.

The FSA's fully cooked standard is that the middle of the food should reach 70C for two minutes, or an equivalent such as 65C for 10 minutes or 75C for 30 seconds. FSANZ's steaming hot standard is 75C. The FDA's advice on eggs is to cook them thoroughly until the yolks and whites are firm, and a set custard meets that.

So the eggs are cooked, which removes the salmonella concern that applies to runny eggs and to raw egg dishes. Listeria is destroyed by the same heat, which is what allows smoked salmon, soft cheese and cooked ham to appear in a quiche without restriction.

The test for a set quiche

A quiche is done when the filling is set with only a slight wobble in the very centre and a knife or skewer comes out clean. A quiche that is still liquid in the middle is an undercooked egg dish, and should go back in the oven.

The FSA's visual cues for cooked food apply: steam rising from the surface, and from the middle when it is cut into. For a larger baked dish it notes you should cut in and look for steam escaping from the inside and middle.

Cold quiche, buffets and chilled counters

This is the part the guidance is actually about, and it is the same issue as with any other cooked-then-chilled food.

A quiche that has been baked, cooled and refrigerated is a chilled ready-to-eat food. Listeria grows at fridge temperature, so a long chilled life gives any post-baking contamination time to multiply, and quiche is handled a good deal after baking: sliced, wrapped, displayed and served.

The NHS groups pre-packaged sandwiches and salads among foods to be careful with, to be kept chilled and eaten before the use-by date. The FSA's listeria advice is to keep chilled food below 5C, refrigerate promptly after purchase, eat ready-to-eat food within four hours of leaving the fridge or two hours on a very warm day, and always eat or freeze by the use-by date.

A buffet quiche is the worst version, because it has usually been standing at room temperature for a long time. FSANZ describes the danger zone as 5C to 60C and advises vulnerable people to limit time spent in it, and its general advice is that it is safest for vulnerable people to eat only freshly prepared food.

The fix is straightforward: reheat the slice until it is steaming hot right through, and eat it immediately. FSANZ specifies reheating to 75C. The pastry suffers, but the food safety question disappears.

What is inside the quiche

Cheese in a quiche is cooked cheese, and the NHS lists any cheese that has been cooked until steaming hot, including soft or blue cheese, as safe. That means a goat's cheese quiche, a blue cheese and broccoli quiche and a brie and bacon quiche are all fine straight from the oven, even though those cheeses are restricted cold in the UK.

Bacon and ham in a quiche Lorraine are cooked during baking. Cured meats are cooked too; the NHS instruction for cold cured meat is to cook it until steaming hot, which baking achieves.

Smoked salmon in a quiche is the case the FSA names directly. Its warning elsewhere is worth repeating, because it is the mistake people make: adding cold-smoked or cured fish to dishes like cooked pasta or scrambled eggs does not heat the fish enough to kill listeria. Baking it into a quiche does.

Spinach, mushrooms, onions and other vegetables in a quiche are cooked. If you are making it, wash vegetables thoroughly first; the NHS notes fruit and vegetables should be washed to remove any soil, which can contain bacteria.

Reheating and leftovers

Quiche keeps badly in the sense that matters here. Once baked and cooled it becomes a chilled ready-to-eat food with a short safe life.

The FSA's leftover advice is to cool food quickly, ideally within two hours, get it into the fridge below 5C, and reheat until steaming hot right through. Where a label gives no instruction for opened food, it advises using it within two days. FSANZ's advice for vulnerable people is stricter: refrigerated leftovers should be eaten within one day rather than three or four.

Reheat once, not repeatedly. An oven or a hot pan gives a better result than a microwave, and a microwave needs covering, stirring where possible and standing time, as the FDA advises for even heating.

Shop-bought, homemade and restaurant quiche

A supermarket quiche eaten hot from your own oven is a good option: it has a use-by date, it has been made under controlled conditions, and you control the reheating.

A homemade quiche eaten hot is equally good, with the caveat that you should bake it until fully set.

A slice from a cafe chiller is the one that falls under the be-careful advice, and asking for it to be heated through is a reasonable request. A slice from an open buffet or picnic table that has been out for hours is the version to decline.

If you have eaten a cold slice

A cold quiche once is a low risk. Listeriosis is rare, and the NHS's position on foods that should have been avoided is that a small amount, if you did not become ill, is unlikely to affect your baby.

Because listeria has a long incubation, watch the following weeks rather than the following hours. ACOG notes symptoms may appear as late as two months afterwards, and lists fever, chills, muscle aches and diarrhoea or upset stomach, with stiff neck, headache, confusion or loss of balance in more serious illness.

If any appear, contact your midwife or GP the same day and say what you ate. NHS advice is to get help from 111 if you feel unwell after having food that should be avoided in pregnancy, if vomiting and diarrhoea last more than 48 hours, or if you have symptoms of listeriosis.

Where guidance differs

It does not, which is unusual. No authority covered here restricts quiche. The FSA names it as a safer alternative for smoked fish. The FDA's list of ready-to-eat foods to be careful with concerns refrigerated smoked seafood, deli meats and soft cheeses rather than baked dishes.

The only variation is in how strict each is about leftovers: the FSA and NHS work to use-by dates and two days for opened food, while FSANZ asks vulnerable people to eat refrigerated leftovers within a day. For a quiche, that is the difference between eating the last slice on Wednesday and eating it on Tuesday.