- Wash fruit, vegetables and salads to remove all traces of soil, which may contain toxoplasma (a parasite that can cause toxoplasmosis which can harm your unborn baby. Click here for information about toxoplasmosis (opens in new tab)
- Wash all surfaces and utensils, and your hands, after preparing raw foods (poultry, meat, eggs, fish, shellfish and raw vegetables) to help you avoid food poisoning
- Make sure that raw foods are stored separately from ready-to-eat foods, otherwise there's a risk of contamination
- Use a separate knife and chopping board for raw meats
- Heat ready meals until they're steaming hot all the way through – this is especially important for meals containing poultry.
You also need to make sure that some foods, such as eggs, poultry, burgers, sausages and whole cuts of meat like lamb, beef and pork, are cooked very thoroughly until steaming all the way through.
Click here for tips about foods to avoid in pregnancy (opens in new tab).