The best way to prevent getting listeriosis is to always ensure you follow good basic food hygiene.
This includes:
- Peeling raw vegetables, salads or fruit or washing them thoroughly before eating.
- Washing your hands before preparing food, before eating and after going to the toilet.
- Washing kitchen surfaces and utensils regularly, particularly after preparing raw meat, poultry and eggs.
- Always separating raw foods from ready-to-eat foods. Don't store raw meat above ready-to-eat foods because there's a risk that juice containing harmful bacteria may leak from the raw meat.
- Always cooking food thoroughly and checking cooking instructions carefully, including the cooking time.
For foods that are ready to eat, the most important ways of reducing the risk of listeriosis are to:
- not use food after its ‘use by’ date
- make sure the temperature of your fridge is between 0-5ºC
- follow storage instructions on food labels
Advice for ‘at risk’ groups
If you are in a high-risk group for catching listeriosis - for example, if you are pregnant or you have a weakened immune system, you should avoid eating foods that are known to be at risk of listeria contamination.
Foods to avoid include:
- soft mould-ripened cheese, such as Brie, Camembert and chèvre (a type of goat's cheese)
- soft blue-veined cheese, such as Danish blue and gorgonzola
- all types of pâté, including vegetable pâté
- unpasteurised milk
- undercooked food
It is safe to eat hard blue-veined cheese during pregnancy, such as Stilton, as well as other types of hard cheese, including Cheddar and Parmesan - even if these are made from unpasteurised milk.
Read more about foods to avoid during pregnancy.
