Can I eat raw eggs while pregnant?
Avoid Raw eggs
Not unless the egg carries a recognised assurance mark — and the practical problem is that raw egg is almost never eaten knowingly. It arrives inside mayonnaise, aioli, hollandaise, mousse, tiramisu, homemade ice cream, meringue, cake batter and a few dressings, none of which say so. The useful part of this page is the list.
Why avoid: Salmonella risk — never eat raw or runny eggs.
Nobody cracks an egg into a glass. The reason this entry exists is that raw egg is an ingredient rather than a food, and it turns up in about a dozen things that read as cooked, chilled or baked — which means the question is almost never "should I eat a raw egg" and almost always "was there one in that".
Where raw egg actually hides
Grouped by how it gets onto the plate, because that is how you will encounter it.
| Category | Contains raw egg | Usually does not |
|---|---|---|
| Sauces and dressings | Homemade mayonnaise, aioli, hollandaise, béarnaise, some Caesar dressings, some tartare and rémoulade made in-house | Jarred mayonnaise, bottled dressings, salad cream — all made with pasteurised egg |
| Desserts | Chocolate mousse, tiramisu, zabaglione, homemade ice cream, mousse-based cakes, uncooked cheesecake fillings | Baked cheesecake, custard cooked on the stove, commercial ice cream |
| Icings and meringue | Royal icing made with fresh white, Italian and Swiss meringue frosting, uncooked meringue mixtures | Meringues baked dry, ready-made icing |
| Batters and doughs | Raw cake batter, cookie dough, brownie mix — the bowl and the spoon | The same thing once it has been baked through |
| Drinks | Eggnog, a protein shake with an egg in it, cocktails finished with egg white | Anything made with pasteurised cartoned egg |
Two of these deserve a sentence on their own. Caesar dressing is genuinely unpredictable — a restaurant that makes its own usually emulsifies raw yolk with anchovy, while a bottle from a supermarket does not; it is a question worth asking rather than assuming. And carbonara made the traditional way is raw egg cooked only by residual heat from the pasta, which is not enough to count.
"Homemade" is the word that should prompt the question. Commercial production uses pasteurised egg as a matter of course, which is why a supermarket mayonnaise is uncontroversial and a bistro's own aioli is not. The same logic applies to a restaurant tiramisu, a hotel hollandaise and anything a friend has made with pride.
The exemption, and where it applies
British guidance carved out an exception, and it is narrower than it is usually repeated. NHS advice is that hen eggs carrying the red British Lion stamp, or produced under the Laid in Britain scheme, can be eaten raw, partially cooked or well-cooked, as long as they are eaten before the use-by date — those eggs being less likely to contain salmonella. It goes further and names the dishes directly: foods such as mayonnaise and mousse made with raw eggs are safe if they are made with British Lion eggs or Laid in Britain hen eggs.
Three limits on that. It applies to hen eggs only: all other eggs, including duck, goose and quail, can be eaten if they are well-cooked, and raw or undercooked versions of those stay on the avoid list. It applies only within the use-by date. And it is a UK scheme — most countries have no equivalent mark, so a reader outside Britain has no way to invoke it and should treat raw egg as a straightforward no.
There is also a practical limit: you can only use the exemption when you know which eggs went into the bowl. That is a realistic condition in your own kitchen and an unrealistic one in a restaurant, where nobody can tell you what was in the mousse three days ago.
Pasteurised egg does the same job
Cartoned liquid egg, pasteurised whites, pasteurised yolks and dried egg powder have been heat-treated already and behave like raw egg in a recipe. They whip, they emulsify and they set. For mousse, Italian meringue frosting, homemade mayonnaise, eggnog and royal icing, swapping them in changes nothing you can taste and removes the question entirely.
For tiramisu specifically, the other standard route is a cooked base — warming the yolks and sugar over a bain-marie before folding in the mascarpone, which is how a zabaglione-style version is made anyway.
Worth keeping the risk in proportion while you do it. NHS guidance is that salmonella is unlikely to harm your unborn baby, but that you could get food poisoning, which can make you seriously unwell. The thing being avoided is a bad week for you rather than direct harm to the baby — which is a reason to be sensible rather than a reason to be frightened.
If you have already eaten it
A slice of tiramisu is not something to act on retrospectively. NHS guidance is that a small amount of a food that should be avoided is unlikely to affect your baby if you did not get ill. There is no test to request and nothing to take; the meal itself is not the thing to respond to.
Get help from 111 if you become unwell after eating it, or if food-poisoning symptoms — vomiting, diarrhoea, cramps, fever — last more than 48 hours. Also get advice if you develop symptoms of listeriosis or toxoplasmosis.
Fluids are the priority in the meantime. Not being able to keep water down during pregnancy is worth a call on its own, well before the 48-hour mark.
Raw eggs in pregnancy — at a glance
Raw egg should be avoided in pregnancy unless the egg is covered by a recognised assurance scheme. NHS guidance is that hen eggs carrying the red British Lion stamp, or produced under the Laid in Britain scheme, can be eaten raw, partially cooked or well-cooked as long as they are eaten before the use-by date, because those eggs are less likely to contain salmonella, and it states directly that foods such as mayonnaise and mousse made with raw eggs are safe if made with those eggs. Hen eggs without either mark should only be eaten well-cooked, and all other eggs — including duck, goose and quail — should only be eaten well-cooked regardless of provenance. Both schemes are British, so outside the UK the practical answer is a plain no. The useful part of the question is knowing where raw egg appears without being announced: homemade mayonnaise and aioli, hollandaise and béarnaise, chocolate mousse, tiramisu, homemade ice cream, uncooked meringue and Italian meringue frosting, royal icing, raw cake batter and cookie dough, some Caesar dressings, eggnog and traditional carbonara. Commercial equivalents are made with pasteurised egg and are not part of the problem, and pasteurised cartoned egg substitutes for raw egg in any recipe.
Inside Baby Novum: the offline database is searchable by dish as well as by ingredient, so "tiramisu" and "mayonnaise" return their own answers rather than making you work out that the egg is the issue. Encrypted on the device, no account, no server copy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I eat raw eggs while pregnant?
Not unless the egg is covered by an assurance scheme. NHS guidance is that hen eggs with the red British Lion stamp, or produced under the Laid in Britain scheme, can be eaten raw, as long as they are eaten before the use-by date. Hen eggs without either mark should only be eaten well-cooked, and duck, goose and quail eggs must always be well-cooked.
Which everyday foods contain raw egg?
Far more than most people expect: homemade mayonnaise and aioli, hollandaise and béarnaise, chocolate mousse, tiramisu, homemade ice cream, meringue and Italian meringue frosting, some Caesar dressings, eggnog, raw cake batter and cookie dough, and protein shakes made with a raw egg. Almost none of these announce it on the menu.
Is shop-bought mayonnaise safe in pregnancy?
Generally yes. Commercial mayonnaise, salad cream and bottled dressings are made with pasteurised egg rather than raw egg, so they are not part of this question. The jar is not the problem; the restaurant that whisks its aioli fresh is the case to ask about.
Can I have mousse or homemade mayonnaise if the eggs are British Lion?
Yes. NHS guidance states that foods such as mayonnaise and mousse made with raw eggs are safe if they are made with British Lion eggs or Laid in Britain hen eggs. That only helps when you know which eggs went in, which in practice means your own kitchen rather than a restaurant.
What can I use instead of raw egg in a recipe?
Pasteurised egg products — cartoned liquid egg, pasteurised whites, pasteurised yolks and dried egg powder — behave like raw egg in a recipe and have already been heat-treated. They are the standard substitution for mousse, meringue frosting, mayonnaise and eggnog.
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