Now here's an interesting one...
Anyone who has ever been pregnant knows the literature you get loves to bombard you with lists of food items that will cause you and your baby to drop dead if you so much as look at them sideways in the supermarket. Instead of assuming you have a brain that can understand the concepts they are throwing at you, you get a list of banned substances. I've always taken these lists with a pinch of salt - for two reasons. Firstly, being part of a multicultural family, I know the taboo list is quite different in both France and Denmark - that gets you wondering for starters. Also the taboo list has changed a bit over the last 12 years so I tend to figure finding a happy medium is sensible.
The other problem I have with it is that by oversimplifying it, they are actually making things more, not less dangerous. Take cheese for example. I have been advised by the NHS that I should avoid soft cheeses but hard cheddar-like substances are fine. So I buy a brie and a comté in Makro today. Obviously following NHS rules I am headed for comté and biccies tonight after dinner BUT when I read the back of the brie it says 'made with pasteurised milk' and when I read the back of the comté it says 'made with unpasteurised milk' so if it is indeed listeriosis they want me to avoid, then I should be avoiding the comté and devouring the brie... wonder how many pregnant women are caught out because of their oversimplified rules?
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