Does it seem like there’s a long list of things you can’t eat when you’re pregnant? Your doctor has probably warned you off sushi and lunch meat. But is sour cream safe for pregnancy? Here’s all you need to know.
All dairy products are safe during pregnancy if they are pasteurized. That’s right, if your favorite sour cream is made with pasteurized milk, it’s okay to eat when you’re expecting (1).
Is all sour cream pasteurized? Unfortunately, not all sour cream is pasteurized. Homemade sour cream usually isn’t. Let’s take a closer look at the pros and cons of eating sour cream and how to know which kinds are good during pregnancy.
The inside scoop on sour cream
When I was in Europe, I couldn’t find sour cream at the store. The best I could do was to mix whipping cream with vinegar or use unsweetened natural Greek yogurt. It wasn’t terrible, but it just wasn’t the same. (I had to make homemade salsa, too, but that’s another story).
It turns out that the French have a type of sour cream called fraiche. Both products are made by fermenting cream from cows’ milk with lactic acid bacteria, or culture (2).
The good stuff is preservative-free, with no additives or fillers. Meanwhile, low-fat and fat-free sour cream has the fat skimmed off so they aren’t as creamy and rich. They try to make up for the lack with thickeners like locust bean gum and tapioca starch.
So, why do people bother with low-fat sour cream? I can think of a few reasons starting with the nutritional information on the top of regular sour cream.
Just 2 tablespoons provide about 60 calories and 5 grams of fat with only 1 gram of protein. Translation: it’s pretty fattening for the amount of protein you get.
About 3 of those grams of fat are saturated fat and that’s almost 20% of the daily value. Eating two tablespoons of sour cream uses up a fifth of the saturated fat allotment for the day. (But it sure is tasty).
On the bright side, sour cream has calcium, phosphorus, vitamin A, magnesium, choline, and potassium. Those are all essential nutrients for you and your baby.
Moreover, eating sour cream may have a crucial benefit for your health. It can help your body absorb vitamins that need fat to digest. These include vitamins A, D, E, and K which you need for your immune system.
But no, eating sour cream and onion chips while pregnant doesn’t offer as much nutrition.
What happens if you eat sour cream during pregnancy’s first trimester?
It’s safe to eat sour cream during the first trimester and throughout pregnancy as long as the sour cream is pasteurized.
Pasteurization is a process that heats the milk to a high enough temperature that it kills harmful bacteria. It doesn’t ruin the flavor – it just makes it safe.
Don’t eat unpasteurized sour cream during the first trimester or any time during pregnancy. In fact, it’s smart to stop eating unpasteurized sour cream if you’re only trying to get pregnant. That’s because it could be contaminated with one of the deadliest bacteria that can take up to 30 days to incubate.
Listeria is the reason why unpasteurized sour cream is dangerous
Listeria lingers on unpasteurized products like soft cheese and sour cream. But it’s also found in pre-package salad mixes, sprouts, fresh fruits and vegetables, and deli meat and hot dogs. It’s the main reason why doctors tell pregnant women to avoid these foods (3).
Since pregnancy weakens the immune system, pregnant women are 10 times more likely to end up with listeriosis, the infection caused by listeria. What’s more, an expectant mother might not even know she is sick but the baby may be born prematurely. Listeriosis can also cause miscarriage, stillbirth, and serious illness in newborns.
The good news is that you can kill listeria by cooking food. If it reaches 165°F, the bacteria die. That’s why pasteurized dairy products are safe – they are heated to kill the germs when they are manufactured.
If you are careful to wash fresh fruits and vegetables, sanitize surfaces and cooking tools, and clean your hands, this also prevents listeria from getting the upper hand.
However, even though it’s essential to put food in the fridge or freezer, the lower temperatures won’t kill listeria. The cold only slows the growth, which is why it’s important to keep an eye on the expiration date and the use-by date. If you open a package of sour cream and it says to use within a certain number of days after opening, discard it once that time has passed.
Which are the best pasteurized sour cream brands?
Lucky for us, the FDA demands that commercially manufactured sour cream is pasteurized. The next time you stop by the grocery store, pick up a tub of Daisy, Organic Valley, Dean’s, or Land O’Lakes sour cream and check the label. You’ll see that it’s made with pasteurized milk (2).
Daisy Squeeze Sour Cream
I admit it – I was hesitant to try sour cream in a tube. All my life I’d scooped it out of the tub with a spoon. But now I’m hooked. It’s less messy to squeeze what I need on my taco salad. I don’t even need to wash a spoon afterward.
Of course, Daisy’s sour cream is pasteurized. But I also appreciate that there are no additives or preservatives. It’s made with cultured cream from grade A pasteurized milk. You can’t get much purer or creamier than that.
Furthermore, the milk comes from cows that were not treated with growth hormones. That’s better for the cows and better for us.
If you check the nutritional label, you’ll see that 2 tablespoons (I assume these are level tablespoons, carefully measured…which is totally different from the heaping tablespoons I used to enjoy) are equal to 60 calories. Each serving has 1 gram of protein with a 4% of the daily value of vitamin A and 2% calcium. Unfortunately, it also has 5 grams of fat. Most of that is saturated fat which goes straight to your cholesterol. That’s why they say sour cream is a topping, not the main meal.
At any rate, you can also get the Daisy Light sour cream with only 40 calories and half the fat. Either way, if you get it in the squeeze tube, it doesn’t have that liquid separated on top of the sour cream after it sits in the fridge for a couple of days.
Sour Cream Low Fat Organic, 365 by Whole Foods Market
As much as I love Whole Foods, I can’t honestly say that I prefer their low-fat sour cream. It’s a little more watery and not quite as tasty as the calorie-rich stuff. To give it a creamy texture and make up for the lack of fat, it’s enhanced with food starches.
But if you’re on a restricted diet, 40 calories for every 2 tablespoons isn’t awful. There are only 1.5 grams of saturated fat and 2 grams of protein. That’s right, this low-calorie sour cream has double the protein. I’m not sure how that works, but it does add 3 grams of carbs. At any rate, it still has a decent amount of calcium and vitamin A.
If you check the label, you’ll see that there’s no mention of pasteurized milk. Instead, it lists cultured organic milk. Is cultured sour cream pasteurized?
I reached out to Whole Foods and they confirmed that they use cultured pasteurized grade A milk. The product image apparently needs updating!
Which restaurants use pasteurized sour cream?
As far as I know, all the major chain restaurants like Taco Bell and Chili’s use only pasteurized sour cream. After all, they don’t want lawsuits for making someone sick. But don’t hesitate to ask. It’s not classified information.
If you go to a restaurant that serves traditional, ethnic, or artisanal food, be cautious. Check to see if they use pasteurized sour cream or culture their own in-house. If it’s homemade, take a pass on it.
Is it okay to make sour cream at home when you’re pregnant?
Well, you can make sour cream, but please don’t eat it if it’s unpasteurized. It’s possible to purchase sour cream starter kits with live cultures to turn dairy cream into sour cream. Nevertheless, I’d steer clear of this option during pregnancy. It’s hard to prevent contamination and listeria detection equipment is expensive.
After all, there are better ways to get probiotics in your diet.
Organic Valley Sour Cream, Rich and Creamy
Did you know you can get sour cream with probiotics? It might even be easier to digest.
Probiotics are beneficial microbes that can help our bodies absorb nutrients and digest food more easily. They may also boost the immune system to clear infections.
But be careful if you have a compromised immune system. You might not be able to eat probiotic-enhanced food like this sour cream. I’m sad for you as this is pretty tangy stuff. I love it on baked potatoes. No wonder it won the gold medal at the Los Angeles dairy competition a few years back.
It’s made with USDA-certified organic cultured pasteurized nonfat milk and cream. It also contains acidophilus and bifidus cultures, two of the best probiotics for our bodies.
Is Mexican crema safe during pregnancy?
I mentioned French sour cream so now it’s time to talk about Mexican sour cream, or crema. It’s homemade from raw, unpasteurized milk fresh from the cow. It may sound appealing, but it’s not a good idea to eat it when you’re pregnant. Anything that’s unpasteurized is prone to be contaminated with listeria (2).
Is it safe to eat sour cream dip when you’re pregnant?
The same rule applies: if the sour cream is pasteurized, it should be safe. Commercial dips like Doritos or Domino’s Pizza are pasteurized as our other pre-made dips from the supermarket. Nevertheless, be careful with regard to temperature. If sour cream has been sitting out or exposed to warm temperatures, discard it. The longer sour cream is out of the fridge, the more bacteria multiplies, and the more likely you are to end up sick (4).
How long can refrigerate sour cream before it goes bad?
Sour cream can be refrigerated for one to three weeks before it goes bad. Check the container for guidelines. It will have an expiration date at least. But once you open it, I suggest you finish it within a week (4).
What about Lactaid sour cream for pregnancy?
Check out my other article about Lactaid during pregnancy. In summary, it’s safe to eat lactose-free products. The difference between them and regular dairy is that they come with lactase, the necessary enzyme for digesting milk. It will keep you from having gas, bloating, and other undesirable consequences.
Lactaid Sour Cream
Go ahead and enjoy Lactaid sour cream with added lactase enzyme for easier digestion. It tastes and looks the same because it’s real dairy with a smooth and creamy texture.
Is non-dairy sour cream safe for pregnancy?
Generally, non-dairy sour cream is safe to eat. The only problem would be if you had an allergy to any of the ingredients. Check out one tasty option below.
Tofutti Better than Sour Cream
It’s imitation sour cream beloved by vegans. It consists of cold-pressed plant oils, tofu, and thickeners. The texture is similar to low-fat sour cream, but it has more calories, sodium, and carbs than the original. It doesn’t have vitamin A or calcium, either. On the bright side, it’s lactose-free.
What can you use in place of sour cream?
I’ve used unsweetened natural Greek yogurt to replace sour cream. Mayonnaise almost works, too.
In a pinch, you might try cream cheese, but it’s going to be pretty thick.
Go ahead and experiment with the recipe below and see what you like best.
Safe and Tasty Sour Cream Dip
If pregnancy cravings are clamoring for attention, try this simple dip.
You’ll need:
- ¾ cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoon chives
- Or you can add sun-dried tomatoes, chopped spinach, chopped jalapenos, or bacon bits
- ½ teaspoon dill
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- A dash of salt and pepper
All you need to do is stir and chill for 30 minutes before serving.
Sources:
1 https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/sour-cream-pregnancy Is It Safe to Eat Sour Cream During Pregnancy? Last medically reviewed on August 17, 2021
2 https://www.pregnancyfoodchecker.com/are-sour-cream-creme-fraiche-safe-to-eat-when-pregnant/ Are Sour Cream & Crème Fraîche Safe To Eat When Pregnant? Written by Gina Waggott, Medically Reviewed by Janet Gordon RD, MBDA, Last Updated on August 23, 2021
3 https://www.cdc.gov/Listeria/prevention.html Listeriosis prevention
4. https://ask.usda.gov/s/article/How-long-can-you-keep-dairy-products-like-yogurt-milk-and-cheese-in-the-refrigerator How long can you keep dairy products like yogurt, milk, and cheese in the refrigerator? Published July 17, 2019