This page explains how SafeBloom decides what is safe, where our information comes from, what the SafeBloom Certified mark does and does not mean, and how to tell us when we get something wrong.
1. Where our guidance comes from
Our classifications follow official public-health and food-safety guidance for pregnancy and breastfeeding, mainly:
- EFSA – European Food Safety Authority (listeria, mercury in fish, caffeine intake)
- ECDC and WHO – infection risks such as listeriosis, toxoplasmosis and salmonella
- ISS / EpiCentro – Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Italy)
- NHS – UK National Health Service, “Foods to avoid in pregnancy”
Where national guidance differs, we apply the more cautious recommendation and say so.
2. How the Menu Scanner classifies a dish
The scanner reads the menu with AI and matches each dish against our ingredient rules. Every dish gets one of three labels:
- ✓ Generally safe – no ingredient or preparation of concern.
- ⚠ Ask first – safe only under a condition you should check with the staff (for example: the cheese must be pasteurised, the fish well cooked, caffeine within daily limits).
- ✗ Avoid – contains an ingredient official guidance advises against in pregnancy (for example: raw or undercooked meat, fish or eggs, unpasteurised soft cheese, alcohol, high-mercury fish).
The rules are supervised by Dr. Clea Allocca, nutritional biologist, food technologist and former food-safety inspector, who reviews the criteria and our recipes.
3. Limits you should know
- A menu does not list every ingredient or preparation step. When the scanner is unsure, it says ⚠ Ask first.
- AI can misread a menu. Always check with the restaurant staff, especially for allergies.
- SafeBloom is educational information. It does not replace your doctor or midwife.
4. What “SafeBloom Certified” means
A SafeBloom Certified restaurant has staff who completed our 8-hour online training on pregnancy food safety (4 modules) and passed a 15-question final exam (80% pass mark). The certification lasts 12 months.
It is a training mark, not a health inspection. SafeBloom does not inspect kitchens and the mark does not replace HACCP obligations or checks by local food-safety authorities.
The other venues in our directory come from OpenStreetMap and are not verified by SafeBloom.
5. Report an error
If the scanner, a recipe or an article is wrong, write to info@safebloomeurope.com with a screenshot or the menu. We review every report, correct the rule if needed and reply to you.
Last updated: September 2026