Editorial Process & Medical Review

Every article, food-safety verdict, and meal-plan recommendation on SafeBites is grounded in primary sources from authoritative health bodies — not secondhand blog posts or AI-invented claims. Our standing source list includes:

• ACOG — The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists publishes clinical guidance, committee opinions, and patient FAQs on pregnancy nutrition, food safety, and moderate caffeine consumption. See ACOG — Nutrition During Pregnancy.
• FDA & EPA — The FDA/EPA joint Advice About Eating Fish governs our seafood "Best Choice / Good Choice / Avoid" categorization for mercury exposure.
• CDC — The Centers for Disease Control publishes listeriosis, toxoplasmosis, and salmonella outbreak data. See CDC — Safer Food Choices for Pregnant Women.
• RCOG — The UK Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists is our cross-reference for guidance where US and UK standards diverge (e.g. pate, unpasteurized cheeses).
• Peer-reviewed journals — For claims outside standing guidance (e.g. maternal DHA dosing, iron absorption with vitamin C), we cite primary studies indexed in PubMed or Cochrane.

Our rule: if a claim cannot be traced to one of these sources, it does not appear on SafeBites. We do not cite Healthline, WebMD, or other secondhand summaries as primary evidence.

Pregnancy nutrition guidance evolves. We track three kinds of updates and revise accordingly:

• Guidance changes — When ACOG publishes a new committee opinion or the FDA updates its fish advisory, we revise every affected article within 30 days and bump lastReviewed in the article's byline.
• Outbreak advisories — When the CDC announces a listeriosis or salmonella outbreak (e.g. the 2024 deli-meat outbreak), we surface a banner on affected food pages within 48 hours.
• Scheduled audits — Every article is re-reviewed at least once every 12 months even without a guidance change, to catch anything stale.

Every blog post and /can-i-eat/ page shows its last-reviewed date. If you notice something that appears out of date, email [email protected] and we'll investigate.