Should pregnant women avoid eating smoked fish? [moved from Los Angeles board]

[goodhealthgourmet]

[NOTE: we've moved this discussion of the article at http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/daily... -- The Chowhound Team]

i'm *not* defending the way the restaurant handled the situation, but Gjelina has a rather extensive menu with a host of varied options so i'm trying to figure out why a *pregnant* woman was ordering the one item that contained smoked fish...

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Gjelina
1429 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, CA 90291

[Bob Brooks]

If I read the article correctly, the issue wasn't that the fish was smoked. It was that there were a number of ingredients piled on top of it they she wanted put to the side. A pretty minimal request if you ask me.

[goodhealthgourmet]

you misunderstood my post - pregnant women aren't supposed to eat smoked fish so she shouldn't have been ordering that particular dish in the first place.

[honkman]

"...pregnant women aren't supposed to eat smoked fish.." - Why shoudn't eat pregnant women smoked fish ?

[tastycakes]

in house smoking can be done at varying temperatures and is therefore not always guaranteed to kill bacteria that could cause illness which is dangerous for the fetus.

[goodhealthgourmet]

as tastycakes said, it's a bacterial issue, specifically Listeria. cold-smoked fish is the primary concern, but even hot-smoking may not kill the nasties if the temperature isn't high enough.

[honkman]

We are currently expecting our first child and obviously have looked in depth into things like this (and many other potential issues) and it is very overblown and more a paranoia. Of course it depends how often you eat it and also how much you trust the restaurant in terms of quality of dealing with food but the likelihood of a problem is similar to having a car accident during pregnancy and I doubt you would stop driving a car. There are so many potential "dangers" during pregnancy that you have to be obviously much more careful than normal but many people tend toward paranoia

[goodhealthgourmet]

obviously it's a personal choice whether one chooses to heed or ignore the recommendation from the USDA & CDC on this issue. the risk may be minimal, but it's not one that i would *personally* be willing to take when there are so many other options available to me, and i'm not the least bit "paranoid." i can easily survive for 9 months without eating smoked fish...car travel is an entirely different issue.

[honkman]

Actually eating fish (obviously the "right" amounts and "right" fish) is even recommend by doctors and the FDA during pregnancy.

[goodhealthgourmet]

i never said *all* fish should be avoided during pregnancy...?

[AAQjr]

It is what it is. Whether it is easy or not is irrelevant.

The policy is clearly stated and to complain about it because you are a celebrity is pretty tacky

[Servorg]

Father's Office is probably glad to see another LA place take some of the heat off of them for a change when it comes to the "no substitutions" policy that both have in place... ;-D>

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Father's Office Bar
1618 Montana Ave, Santa Monica, CA