Is It Safe To Drink Unpasteurized Juices During Pregnancy?
Yes, but it comes with following conditions.Before extraction, the fruits needs 100% cleaning. Warm water, tiny drop of soap solution and a soft brush to get away with the dirt. Even the chemicals and insecticides on the fruit will get washed away. The utensils used in the process needs to be cleaned and dried. It should be washed in hot water before and after use. It is better to drink the squeezed juice immediately rather than storing it. Also, it is been observed that best milk for nursing comes from intake of organic fresh fruit juices. If the above said process is followed, and if it is for immediate consumption, then unpasteurized juices are best choice.
Are Packaged Fruit Juices Safe?
Bored of this lengthy process, most of them go for ready-made packaged fruit juices. Here comes the problem. While buying the juice it is not sure whether it is pasteurized or not? Does the labels carry those information?. Added to this, sales persons are not sure about it. But, the looks and tastes remains the same in both the case. So, it cannot be considered as pasteurized one. Otherwise if it is for sure that it is unpasteurized, then it is not safe to drink during pregnancy.
During pregnancy, the mother’s immune system is not harder to fight infections so the bacterial infections (E. coli 0157:H7, Salmonella typhi and Listeria monocytogenes etc.,) would result in serious illnesses and even miscarriage. Generally these bacteria are found in nature and they have the capacity to survive in little or no oxygen zones. But it is destroyed by cooking.
So, it is better to look for pasteurized juices and it reduces the number of viable pathogens so they are unlikely to cause disease. Additionally if it is not for immediate consumption, look for the quality of the product, air tight sealed container etc., As prescribed, pasteurized products needs to be stored and consumed within the expiration date.
There are regulations to increase the safety of fresh and processed juices. The regulation says product should undergo respective analysis/test and secondly warning labels should be provided appropriately to inform the consumers. This would lessen the risk. But still questions like – Are All Juices equally Safe? exists and also No food is 100% safe.
