Can I eat cream cheese while pregnant?

The verdict

Yes. Cream cheese is one of the very few soft cheeses that every authority treats as low risk, and one of the only foods on this site where the UK, the US, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland all land in the same place without a caveat about cooking.

The NHS lists pasteurised cream cheese among the soft cheeses that are safe to eat in pregnancy, alongside cottage cheese, processed cheese spreads, mozzarella, feta, paneer, ricotta, mascarpone, halloumi and burrata. Food Standards Australia New Zealand goes one better: pasteurised cream cheese appears in the safer alternatives column of its higher-risk table, as something to eat instead of brie, camembert, ricotta, feta and blue.

ACOG's rule that soft cheeses made with pasteurised milk are safe covers it, and the FDA's listeria advice allows cheeses made with pasteurised milk, with only queso fresco-type cheeses excepted. Ireland's HSE avoid list does not mention it.

Why cream cheese sits on the safe side

Three things separate cream cheese from the soft cheeses that get restricted.

It is acid-set, not mould-ripened. There is no surface mould raising the pH of the cheese as it ages, which is the mechanism that makes brie, camembert and blue hospitable to listeria. Cream cheese stays acidic from the day it is made.

It is made from pasteurised milk as standard. Commercial cream cheese production in the UK, US, Australia and Ireland uses pasteurised milk and often a heat treatment of the finished cheese as well. There is no raw-milk tradition to check for, in the way there is with parmesan or roquefort.

It is not ripened. Brie develops over weeks; cream cheese is packed and chilled. There is no long cold ageing window in which a small contamination can multiply into a large one.

Which products count

Tubs and blocks of plain cream cheese, whipped cream cheese, flavoured cream cheese with chives or garlic, light and extra-light versions, and supermarket own-brand equivalents are all the same food for these purposes. Processed cheese spreads and triangles are separately named as safe by the NHS.

Mascarpone is a different cheese but sits in the same NHS safe list. Quark and skyr are acid-set and pasteurised and behave the same way, though neither is named individually. Vegan cream cheese made from cashews, coconut or soya contains no dairy and is outside dairy advice entirely, but it is still a chilled ready-to-eat food and belongs in the fridge with its use-by date respected.

What actually needs watching

The cheese is rarely the issue. What sits with it usually is.

A bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon is the most searched version of this question, and the smoked salmon is the part that carries a restriction. The FSA advises pregnant women to avoid ready-to-eat cold-smoked or cured fish products such as smoked salmon or gravlax, and the NHS says cold-smoked and cured fish must be cooked until steaming hot. The FDA and ACOG both say avoid refrigerated smoked seafood unless it is in a cooked dish. Cream cheese on its own, or with cucumber, tomato, jam or plain bagel, is unaffected.

Cream cheese frosting is the second common question. Shop-bought frosting and a home-made buttercream frosting made with cream cheese, butter and icing sugar contain no raw egg and are pasteurised dairy, so they are not restricted. Frostings and fillings that contain raw egg white, such as a royal icing or an uncooked meringue, are a different question and belong with egg advice.

Cheesecake divides the same way. A baked cheesecake is cooked. A no-bake cheesecake made from pasteurised cream cheese, cream and biscuit is not cooked but contains nothing that needs cooking. A no-bake cheesecake set with raw egg, or a tiramisu-style dessert built on raw egg, is an egg question, and the FDA lists mousse, tiramisu and homemade ice cream among foods to avoid because of raw eggs.

Storing an open tub

The one genuine handling point is that an opened tub of cream cheese becomes a chilled ready-to-eat food, and listeria grows at fridge temperature. The FSA's advice for reducing listeria risk is to chill food below 5C, refrigerate as soon as possible after purchase, always eat or freeze by the use-by date, follow the storage instructions for opened foods, and where there are none, use opened food within two days.

FSANZ frames the same idea as limiting the time food spends in the danger zone between 5C and 60C when serving. In practice: put the tub back in the fridge rather than leaving it on the counter through breakfast, do not double-dip a knife that has touched raw meat or unwashed vegetables, and do not keep an opened tub past its date because it still smells fine. Listeria cannot be seen, smelled or tasted.

Cream cheese in cooked dishes

There are no restrictions to work around here, so cream cheese is genuinely useful as a substitute. It stands in for mascarpone in a sauce, for ricotta in a filling if you are following Australian advice, and for soft goat's cheese in a tart if you would rather not cook a rinded chevre. Stirred into a hot pasta sauce it melts smoothly and is safe both before and after heating.

Nutritionally it is a source of calcium and protein but also of saturated fat and salt, and it is not a substitute for milk or yoghurt in the diet. NHS pregnancy diet advice is to have some dairy or dairy alternatives each day, chosen lower-fat and lower-sugar where possible.

If you are worried anyway

There is no scenario here that needs action. If you have eaten pasteurised cream cheese, in any quantity, at any stage of pregnancy, that is simply within guidance in every country listed on this page.

If what you actually ate was a cream cheese product made with unpasteurised milk, which is rare but exists at farm shops and specialist counters, then it becomes a raw-milk cheese question and the answer changes: the NHS, FDA, ACOG and FSANZ all say avoid raw-milk cheese unless it is thoroughly cooked. Watch for fever, chills, muscle aches, headache or an upset stomach over the following weeks, and contact your midwife or GP if any appear, mentioning what you ate.

Where guidance differs

It does not, which is unusual enough to be worth stating. The NHS names pasteurised cream cheese as safe. FSANZ names pasteurised cream cheese as a safer alternative. ACOG says soft cheeses made with pasteurised milk are safe. The FDA permits cheeses made with pasteurised milk other than queso fresco-type. The HSE does not list it.

The only disagreements nearby are about what people put with it: smoked salmon, which is restricted almost everywhere, and raw egg desserts, which are restricted in most places. Those have their own pages.