Eating Out While Pregnant: A Restaurant and Menu Guide (Sushi, Steak, Salads, Buffets, Takeaway)

Eating out in pregnancy is not about avoiding restaurants. It is about three questions at the table: is it cooked through, is it hot now, and how long has it been sitting? Those three cover listeria (cold, ready-to-eat food), toxoplasma and salmonella (undercooked meat and egg) and the general food-poisoning risk that rises in pregnancy because, as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) puts it, the immune system is weakened.

This guide goes through a menu course by course with what the FDA, the UK's NHS, France's ANSES and Germany's national pregnancy recommendations say, and ends with sushi, steak, buffets and takeaway, because those are the questions parents actually ask.

Order, ask, or skip: the three questions applied to a typical menu, from FDA, NHS, CDC and ANSES guidance.

What should I ask for when ordering while pregnant?

The FDA's advice for pregnant diners fits on a napkin:

• "Please always request that your food be cooked thoroughly, especially meat, poultry, fish, and eggs."
• "If it's lukewarm, send it back."
• "Request that raw sprouts not be added to your food."
• "Avoid foods that might contain raw or undercooked eggs," including Caesar dressing, custards and some sauces; "if you're unsure about a dish's ingredients, ask your server before ordering."
• Avoid "fresh-squeezed juice that may not be pasteurized."

Germany's recommendations add the principle behind it: in restaurants and cafeterias, pregnant women "should where possible consume food that has been heated immediately prior to consumption." Heat is the universal fix; the NHS says any food "cooked until steaming hot" is safe, including the cheeses and meats that are otherwise on the avoid list.

Starters: what is safe and what to skip

Hard cheese and pasteurised fresh cheese such as mozzarella are fine cold; see cheese in pregnancy for the full list.

Mains: steak, burgers, chicken, fish and pasta

• Steak and lamb: order it cooked through. The NHS says to avoid "raw or undercooked meat," and the CDC's toxoplasma guidance sets 145°F (63°C) with a three-minute rest for whole cuts, which rules out rare and blue. Medium-well is the usual compromise; the FDA says to send it back if it arrives underdone.
• Burgers and minced meat: ground meat to 160°F (71°C) (CDC), so no pink in the middle. Most chains cook this way; independents may not.
• Chicken, duck, turkey: 165°F (74°C) (CDC); the NHS says poultry should have "no pink or blood." Pink duck breast is a no.
• Fish: cooked fish is encouraged, up to the limits in our foods to avoid during pregnancy guide. Skip swordfish, shark and marlin (NHS, FDA), seared tuna with a raw centre, and any dish built on smoked or raw fish. Low-mercury choices such as salmon, cod, haddock and sardines are good orders.
• Eggs: cooked until the white and yolk are firm, unless you are in the UK and the restaurant uses British Lion eggs, which the NHS allows runny.
• Pasta and risotto: fine; carbonara is the one to ask about, since it is finished with raw egg off the heat.
• Rolled or stuffed joints: the NHS singles out "rolled joints of meat – must be thoroughly cooked all the way through."

For the per-dish questions, our guides on deli meat, prosciutto, shrimp and crab go further.

Sushi, poke and Japanese menus

Sushi restaurants are easy once you split the menu into cooked and raw.

Order: vegetable rolls, cooked prawn (ebi) and tempura rolls, cooked eel (unagi), crab stick, teriyaki, katsu, gyoza, miso soup, edamame, cooked-fish nigiri.

Skip: anything with raw fish, including salmon, tuna, yellowtail and sea bass sashimi or nigiri, poke bowls with raw fish, and smoked-salmon rolls. The NHS is specific that freezing does not change this: avoid "sushi made with raw fish (even if it has been previously frozen) or raw shellfish." The FDA tells pregnant diners to skip "raw or undercooked fish, shellfish, and sushi or sashimi," and ANSES lists "sushi, sashimi, taramasalata" among foods to avoid.

Our sushi in pregnancy guide has the roll-by-roll list.

Buffets, salad bars and street food

Buffets concentrate the two things listeria likes: cold ready-to-eat food and time. The CDC's rule for perishable food is two hours at room temperature, or one hour above 90°F (32°C), and a buffet cannot tell you where it is in that window.

• Take: anything from the hot section that is steaming, hard cheeses, bread, whole fruit, cooked-to-order stations.
• Leave: cold meats, soft cheeses, pre-made salads (the CDC names "premade deli salads, such as coleslaw and potato, tuna, or chicken salad"), cut melon that has been out, smoked fish, cold prawns, raw sprouts, and desserts made with raw egg.
• Street food: the same test, applied harder; hot and cooked in front of you is the safest order on any street.

Takeaway, delivery and leftovers

The FDA's rules for pregnant customers:

• Take-out: eat hot food promptly; cold food within 2 hours of preparation.
• Delivery: eat within 2 hours of arrival, or keep it hot in an oven.
• Doggy bags: "If you won't be arriving home within 2 hours of being served, don't take the leftovers home with you."
• The 2-hour rule: discard perishables left at room temperature for more than 2 hours.

ANSES adds the home end: fridge at 4°C, leftovers "for no more than three days," reheated "to an internal temperature above +70°C."

The safest takeaways are the hot ones: curry, stir-fries, pizza, cooked noodle dishes, hot sandwiches. The ones to think about are cold: a cold deli sub with cured meat or soft cheese, a poke bowl, a sushi platter, a pre-made salad with grated cheese (ANSES avoids "cheeses sold grated").

Drinks and dessert

• Caffeine: 200 mg a day across the NHS, EFSA and ACOG, so one large coffee or two espressos; our caffeine guide has the counts.
• Alcohol: "no known safe amount" (CDC); "safest to avoid" (NHS). Ask about cooking with alcohol only for dishes that are not cooked after it is added.
• Juice and smoothies: pasteurised is fine; avoid fresh-squeezed juice that may not be (FDA).
• Desserts: mousse, tiramisu, homemade ice cream and meringue can contain raw egg; cheesecake and baked desserts are fine. Soft-serve ice cream is a listeria question of machine hygiene rather than ingredients; it is not on the NHS or FDA avoid lists, but a reputable outlet matters.

How Avo Pregnancy helps at the table

The menu questions above are the same every time, which is what makes them a good job for an app. Avo Pregnancy scans a menu photo or a plate and marks each dish safe, caution or avoid, with the guidance behind it, so "is the carbonara cooked?" becomes a question you ask the server with the answer already half known. It also keeps the 200 mg caffeine count running through the day.

When to call a doctor after eating out

If you realise afterwards that you ate something on the avoid list, the chance of illness is small; note it and watch for two weeks for a fever, aches, chills, nausea, diarrhoea, stomach ache or reduced baby movement, and call your midwife, GP or obstetrician if any appear. Our listeria in pregnancy and I ate something I shouldn't have guides cover what happens next.