About this guidance
The information on this page is also available in a document you can download and print.
Guide to food safety when you have low immunity [PDF, 493 KB]
For individuals
Mā te takitahi
Last reviewed:
Food safety guide for people with low immunity
Find out what foods are safe to eat and the types of foods you should avoid when you have low immunity.
✅OK to eat
All breads
Plain cakes, slices, and muffins.
Breakfast cereals, rice and pasta (except filled fresh pasta, which should be checked according the the filling).
❌ Don't eat
Cakes, slices or muffins containing cream or custard, unless the cream is newly opened and the custard is fresh homemade.
✅ OK to eat
Hard cheeses such as cheddar and parmesan.
Butter.
Packaged ice cream.
❌ Don't eat
Unpasteurised (raw) milk and dairy products.
Soft-serve ice cream.
Eat only if cooked
Soft cheeses including brie, camembert, blue cheese, ricotta, mozzarella, feta, haloumi and paneer.
Refrigerate and use promptly
- Cottage cheese and cream cheese: eat within 2 days of opening or cook before use.
- Cream: eat within 2 days of opening.
- Ready-made chilled custard: eat within 2 days of opening.
- Home-made custard: eat hot immediately after cooking; reheat leftovers until piping hot.
- Pasteurised milk: keep refrigerated and consume before the best-before date.
- Pasteurised yoghurt: follow package instructions; homemade yoghurt should be eaten within 2 days.
❌ Don't eat
Raw eggs or foods containing raw eggs (for example, eggnog, homemade mayonnaise, mousse, tiramisu).
Cook thoroughly
Fried, scrambled, baked, or poached eggs with firm yolks and fully cooked whites.
❌ Don't eat
Raw meat or poultry.
Note: Wash hands thoroughly after handling raw meat and avoid touching your face while preparing it.
Heat until piping hot (>75°C)
Processed meats such as ham, salami, luncheon meat, pâté, pastrami, jerky, and biltong.
Cold cooked poultry.
Cook thoroughly and eat hot
Beef, pork, chicken, mince, sausages, and other cooked meats. Never eat rare or undercooked.
❌ Don't eat
Raw fish.
Raw shellfish.
Heat until piping hot (>75°C)
Smoked fish, shellfish and crustaceans.
Cook thoroughly and eat hot
Freshly cooked fish, mussels, oysters, scallops and crayfish.
❌ Don't eat
Pre-packaged salads and ready-made salads or coleslaws from delis and salad bars.
Wash before eating
Fresh fruit.
Fresh vegetables.
Home-made salads (wash ingredients thoroughly).
Cook before eating
Imported frozen berries.
Frozen vegetables.
Fresh herbs (wash first, then cook thoroughly).
✅ OK to eat or drink
Red and green seaweeds including nori and karengo (see sushi advice).
Pasteurised fruit juice, kombucha and non-alcoholic cider.
❌ Don't eat or drink
Store-bought sushi.
Hummus and other dips containing tahini.
Unpasteurised fruit juice, kombucha and non-alcoholic cider.
Only eat if cooked or heated
Stuffing from chicken or turkey, unless cooked separately.
Sprouts and enoki mushrooms, unless cooked.
Limit your intake
Don't eat more than 1 serving a week of brown seaweeds (kelp, kombu, wakame, arame, hijiki and similar).
Home preparation rules
For home-made sushi, use freshly cooked rice, no raw seafood or cold cooked meat, eat immediately, and do not keep leftovers.
Storage rules
- Leftovers: refrigerate and eat within 2 days; reheat until piping hot; do not eat cold leftovers.
- Opened canned foods: transfer from the can, refrigerate, and eat within 2 days.
- Sauces, dressings and spreads: refrigerate after opening and follow manufacturer guidance.
Eating food at restaurants and from takeaway stores
❌Don't eat
- Raw eggs or foods containing raw eggs, such as mayonnaise, dressings containing mayonnaise, hollandaise sauce, Caesar dressing, and some desserts (unless the products are labelled as containing pasteurised eggs).
- Unwashed fruit and vegetables, raw seed sprouts, raw herbs.
- Pre-prepared cold foods such as salads, uncooked sandwiches or sushi.
- Undercooked or raw meat, poultry or seafood.
- Cold meats, pâté or cold, smoked fish and chicken.
- Soft cheeses (unless cooked).
- Soft-serve ice cream.
When you eat out or buy takeaways, you should avoid the same high-risk foods you would avoid at home. Piping hot (over 75°C) food is your best choice. However, you have little control over the way food is prepared in restaurants and takeaways.
When eating in a restaurant or buying takeaways, your food should be:
- well cooked
- prepared just before it is served to you
- piping hot (over 75°C).