Can you eat Caesar dressing while pregnant?
Not homemade with raw eggs, because FDA's pregnancy chart lists homemade Caesar dressing among foods to avoid. Store-bought Caesar dressing labeled as made with pasteurized eggs is lower risk, and FDA's fix for home recipes is pasteurized eggs.
This page covers food safety in pregnancy. The same advice applies to other people at higher risk of foodborne illness: older adults, young children and people with weakened immune systems. If your doctor has given you a specific diet, follow it.
What FDA and FoodSafety.gov say
What to avoid
- Level E FDA:
Homemade Caesar salad dressings
(chart «Do not eat», Eggs row: foods that contain raw/undercooked eggs) FDA, Food Safety for Pregnant Women and Their Unborn Babies (booklet), accessed 2026-10-12
Safer choices and when it is OK
- Level E FDA:
Pre-made foods from grocery stores, such as Caesar dressing, cookie dough, or eggnog that say made with pasteurized eggs/pasteurized egg products are lower risk.
(chart tip, Eggs row (line breaks and a hyphenated line end joined)) FDA, Food Safety for Pregnant Women and Their Unborn Babies (booklet), accessed 2026-10-12 - Level E FDA:
For recipes that call for eggs that are raw or undercooked when the dish is served — like Caesar salad dressing and homemade ice cream — use either shell eggs that have been treated to destroy Salmonella, by pasteurization or another approved method, or pasteurized egg products.
FDA, What You Need to Know About Egg Safety, accessed 2026-10-12
How to cook or handle it
- Level E FoodSafety.gov:
Undercooked eggs may contain Salmonella. Cook eggs until the yolks and whites are firm to kill germs.
FoodSafety.gov, People at Risk: Pregnant Women, accessed 2026-10-12
Why the advice exists
- Level E FDA:
Fresh eggs, even those with clean, uncracked shells, may contain bacteria called Salmonella that can cause foodborne illness, often called “food poisoning.”
FDA, What You Need to Know About Egg Safety, accessed 2026-10-12
Word-for-word quotes from official US sources. Level E means the position of an expert body. How we grade evidence.
What studies found
- Level C In a 2022 survey of 110 ready-to-eat foods in Tehran, none of the Caesar salad samples carried Listeria monocytogenes, while 20% of burger samples did. Arch Razi Inst, 2024
Levels: A is a meta-analysis of trials, B a randomized trial, C an observational study, D lab or animal work, E an expert position. How we grade evidence.
In practice
The concern is raw egg. Caesar dressing made from scratch often calls for raw or barely cooked eggs, and FDA names it as an example of that kind of recipe. Eggs can carry Salmonella even when the shell is clean and uncracked.
Pre-made dressing can be a different story. FDA says store-bought Caesar dressing that says it is made with pasteurized eggs or egg products is lower risk, so check the label. At home, make it with pasteurized eggs. In a restaurant, ask whether the dressing uses raw eggs.
Written from the agency positions and data on this page, reviewed by the Bioma editorial system. How we verify.
Keep exploring
Sources
- FDA, Food Safety for Pregnant Women and Their Unborn Babies (booklet), https://www.fda.gov/media/83740/download (accessed 2026-10-12)
- FDA, What You Need to Know About Egg Safety, https://www.fda.gov/food/buy-store-serve-safe-food/what-you-need-know-about-egg-safety (accessed 2026-10-12)
- FoodSafety.gov, People at Risk: Pregnant Women, https://www.foodsafety.gov/people-at-risk/pregnant-women (accessed 2026-10-12)
- Evidence cards: each study above links to its source. Card review dates are listed in our methodology.
Agency pages checked 2026-10-12. Bioma Learn provides information, not medical advice.