If you feel unwell right now
Do not use a timeline to decide whether to seek care. Contact your doctor, midwife, maternity service or urgent care if you have symptoms now, if an official notice tells exposed people to seek advice, or if you are worried. The windows below describe what public-health sources observe, not what is happening to you.
Look up what you ate
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Showing all 14 foods
Cold deli meat, cold cuts, hot dogs
Listeria
Usually within 2 weeks, as late as 10 weeks
- Why that window
- CDC says symptoms of invasive listeriosis usually start within two weeks of eating contaminated food, but can begin the same day or as late as ten weeks afterwards.
- What to watch for
- For pregnant people CDC highlights fever plus flu-like symptoms such as muscle aches and unusual tiredness. Symptoms in pregnancy are usually mild, and some pregnant people never get any, so feeling well is not the same as knowing you were unaffected.
- When to get advice
- Call a healthcare provider with a fever and unusual tiredness or aches, and say if you ate a recalled food in the past two months.
Soft cheese, queso fresco, requesón
Listeria
Usually within 2 weeks, as late as 10 weeks
- Why that window
- Same window as deli meat, because it is the same organism. CDC puts invasive listeriosis at usually two weeks, possibly the same day, and as late as ten weeks.
- What to watch for
- Fever with flu-like symptoms such as muscle aches and unusual tiredness. Reaching ten weeks is not an all-clear, since CDC says symptoms in pregnancy are usually mild and some people never get any.
- When to get advice
- Contact your care team if you develop fever and unusual tiredness or aches, or if an official notice tells exposed people to seek advice.
Hummus and chilled dips
Listeria
Usually within 2 weeks, as late as 10 weeks
- Why that window
- Chilled ready-to-eat dips fall under the same Listeria window as other cold ready-to-eat foods.
- What to watch for
- Fever plus flu-like symptoms. Feeling fine does not rule it out, because CDC says symptoms in pregnancy are often mild or absent.
- When to get advice
- Call a provider with fever and unusual tiredness or aches, mentioning any recalled food eaten in the past two months.
Pre-cut melon and cut fruit
Listeria
Usually within 2 weeks, as late as 10 weeks
- Why that window
- Melon is the fruit CDC names for Listeria, because it is low in acid and often refrigerated for a long time. The window is the standard Listeria one.
- What to watch for
- Fever with muscle aches and unusual tiredness.
- When to get advice
- Contact your care team if symptoms appear, and mention the food and date.
Runny or undercooked egg
Salmonella
6 hours to 6 days, lasting 4 to 7 days
- Why that window
- CDC puts Salmonella symptoms at 6 hours to 6 days after infection, usually lasting 4 to 7 days. This is days, not the ten weeks that belongs to Listeria, so someone who ate a runny egg a fortnight ago and stayed well is past the window CDC describes.
- What to watch for
- Watery diarrhoea that might contain blood or mucus, stomach cramps that can be severe, and sometimes headache, nausea, vomiting or loss of appetite.
- When to get advice
- CDC says to call a doctor for diarrhoea or vomiting lasting more than 2 days, blood in stool or urine, a fever above 102°F, or signs of dehydration. Dehydration deserves extra attention in pregnancy.
Raw dough or batter
Salmonella and E. coli
6 hours to 6 days for Salmonella
- Why that window
- Raw flour rather than raw egg is the part CDC leads with, since most flour is untreated. The window is the short one rather than the Listeria one.
- What to watch for
- Stomach cramps, diarrhoea which may contain blood, vomiting, or fever.
- When to get advice
- Call a doctor for diarrhoea or vomiting past 2 days, blood in stool or urine, a fever above 102°F, or dehydration signs.
Raw sprouts
STEC E. coli and Salmonella
A few days up to 9 days for STEC; 12 to 72 hours for Salmonella
- Why that window
- FDA puts STEC symptoms at a few days up to nine days after eating, and Salmonella at 12 to 72 hours lasting four to seven days. The outer edge is days, not weeks.
- What to watch for
- Severe stomach cramps, diarrhoea which may be bloody, fever, nausea or vomiting.
- When to get advice
- CDC advises calling a provider for bloody diarrhoea, diarrhoea with a fever above 102°F, diarrhoea lasting more than two days without improvement, heavy vomiting, or dehydration signs.
Bagged or prewashed salad
Cyclospora
Usually about 1 week, ranging 2 days to 2 weeks or more
- Why that window
- The current iceberg lettuce outbreak is Cyclospora, which behaves unlike the bacteria most pregnancy advice describes. CDC says infection to illness is usually about a week, ranging from 2 days to 2 weeks or more, and untreated it can last over a month.
- What to watch for
- Watery and sometimes frequent diarrhoea. CDC notes symptoms may seem to go away and then return one or more times, so feeling better for a few days does not mean it has finished.
- When to get advice
- Contact a provider if diarrhoea persists or keeps returning, and mention that Cyclospora testing may need to be requested specifically.
Raw fish, sushi or sashimi
Parasites and bacteria
Hours to a few days
- Why that window
- ACOG advises avoiding raw and undercooked fish because it is more likely to carry parasites or bacteria. Those illnesses generally announce themselves within hours to a few days, so the watch window is short.
- What to watch for
- Stomach cramps, vomiting, diarrhoea, or fever. If you are still well several days later, that particular worry has largely passed.
- When to get advice
- Contact your care team if symptoms appear or if you want advice for your own situation.
Cold-smoked or cured fish
Listeria
Usually within 2 weeks, as late as 10 weeks
- Why that window
- The exception that catches people out. Smoked salmon and gravlax are cured rather than cooked, which makes them a Listeria question with a long window, not a parasite question with a short one.
- What to watch for
- Fever with flu-like symptoms such as muscle aches and unusual tiredness.
- When to get advice
- Call a provider with fever and unusual tiredness, mentioning a recalled food eaten in the past two months.
Reheated or leftover rice
Bacillus cereus
Fast, hours rather than weeks
- Why that window
- Rice-related food poisoning shows up quickly rather than over weeks. It is also not singled out for pregnancy the way Listeria is; it is a general food-safety issue.
- What to watch for
- Vomiting or diarrhoea. What changes in pregnancy is that dehydration matters more.
- When to get advice
- Call a doctor for diarrhoea or vomiting past 2 days, blood in stool, a fever above 102°F, or dehydration signs. Do not wait it out if you cannot keep fluids down.
Tuna or high-mercury fish
Mercury
No watch window exists
- Why that window
- Mercury is not an infection. There are no symptoms to monitor after a tuna sandwich and no test to ask for, because FDA and EPA advice is built around servings per average week rather than a single meal.
- What to watch for
- Nothing to watch for from one meal. This is a pattern question rather than an emergency.
- When to get advice
- FDA's own instruction for this situation is to choose fish with lower mercury levels going forward. Raise it with your care team if you have been eating high-mercury fish regularly over months.
Liver, pâté, or a vitamin A supplement
Vitamin A
No watch window exists
- Why that window
- Like mercury and unlike every infection here, this is about accumulated intake rather than a single exposure. Cooking does not change it, because vitamin A is a nutrient rather than a germ.
- What to watch for
- No symptom to watch for and no test to request.
- When to get advice
- Stop taking any supplement listing vitamin A or retinol, check whether anything else you take also lists it, and mention it at your next appointment, particularly if it was regular.
Kombucha or fermented drinks
Ethanol
No watch window exists
- Why that window
- Not a foodborne-illness question, so there is no incubation period and nothing to monitor.
- What to watch for
- No symptoms to watch for from a single drink.
- When to get advice
- Note what you drank and how often, and raise it at your next appointment if it has been a regular habit rather than a one-off.
This shows the window public-health sources describe for each organism. It cannot tell you whether you were exposed, whether you are infected, or whether your pregnancy was affected, and no page can. If you have symptoms now, or a notice tells you to seek advice, contact your doctor, midwife or maternity service rather than waiting out a timeline.
Why one answer would be wrong
Almost every page on this subject gives a single line: watch for symptoms and call your provider. That is not wrong, but it leaves out the only detail that changes what you do, which is how long watching actually lasts.
The windows are genuinely far apart. CDC puts invasive listeriosis at usually two weeks and as late as ten. It puts Salmonella at 6 hours to 6 days. Cyclospora is about a week but can relapse after seeming to pass. And mercury and vitamin A are not infections at all, so they have no window.
Collapsing those into one sentence leaves somebody who ate a runny egg a fortnight ago still anxious on a Listeria timeline that was never theirs, and it leaves somebody who ate cold deli meat six weeks ago assuming they are past a window they are still inside.
Two things a window cannot tell you
Reaching the end is not an all-clear. CDC says symptoms of Listeria in pregnancy are usually mild and some pregnant people never get any, so passing ten weeks without symptoms is not the same as knowing you were unaffected.
Feeling better is not always the end. For Cyclospora specifically, CDC notes symptoms may seem to go away and then return one or more times, so a few good days does not necessarily mean it has finished.
Write it down while you remember
If symptoms appear in three weeks, the useful facts are what you ate, where it came from, and exactly when. Those are the details nobody can reconstruct later, and they are what a clinician will ask for. Nouri keeps them with the rest of your day.
Common questions
How long after eating do Listeria symptoms start?
CDC says symptoms of invasive listeriosis usually start within two weeks of eating contaminated food, but can begin the same day or as late as ten weeks afterwards. That long tail is why an older exposure is still worth mentioning. CDC tells pregnant people to say if they ate a recalled food in the past two months.
Is the window the same for a runny egg?
No, and this is the confusion this tool exists to fix. A runny egg is mainly a Salmonella question, and CDC puts Salmonella at 6 hours to 6 days after infection, usually lasting 4 to 7 days. That is days, not the ten weeks that belongs to Listeria.
I feel completely fine. Does that mean I am clear?
Not on its own, and it depends which organism applies. CDC says symptoms of Listeria in pregnancy are usually mild and that some pregnant people never get any, so feeling well is not the same as knowing you were unaffected. For Cyclospora, CDC notes symptoms may seem to go away and then return.
What if I ate tuna or liver rather than something that can spoil?
Then there is no watch window, because those are not infections. Mercury and vitamin A are about accumulated intake over time rather than a single meal, so there are no symptoms to monitor and no test to ask for. The useful response is forward-looking rather than a period of waiting.
Does this tool tell me whether I am infected?
No. It shows the window that public-health sources describe for each organism. It cannot tell you whether you were exposed, whether you are infected, or whether a pregnancy was affected. If you have symptoms now, contact your care team rather than waiting out a timeline.
Related Nouri pages
- Food poisoning while pregnant, including how to write the care-team message
- If the food was named in a recall
- Check a package against current recalls
The window is only half the question. If you want the fuller picture on the specific food you looked up, these go into it properly:
- Rice, where the risk comes from how it was cooled rather than how it was cooked
- Raw dough and batter, where flour matters as much as the egg
- Melon and pre-cut fruit, and why chilling is the whole question
- Shellfish, separating the raw ones from the cooked ones
- Vitamin A and liver, which is a dose question with no window
- Kombucha, where fermentation raises two separate questions
Sources checked on 1 September 2026
- CDC: Symptoms of Listeria infection
- CDC: Listeria risk factors, including the two-month reporting instruction for pregnancy
- CDC: Symptoms of Salmonella infection and when to call a doctor
- CDC: About cyclosporiasis, including timing and relapse
Covers 14 foods. This page is educational. It does not diagnose, does not estimate personal risk, and does not replace your care team.