Very early on in my pregnancy I found myself heading towards Bayswater for no other reason than a need to satisfy a sudden intense craving for a parmesan custard from Le Cafe Anglais. My desire was so strong I could smell it - £4.75 worth of wobbly, cheesy goodness was going to be mine, and nothing was going to keep me from it. No one would know, I reasoned, so why not, just this once?

I'd got as far as the Whiteleys escalator before I realised with a flush of shame that this behaviour was identical to that of a secret smoker. Not only might I compromise my own health and that of my baby, but I was also contemplating doing it behind my partner's back. The sneaking around was particularly heinous as he had, unprompted, also given up all the favourite foods of mine I was unable to eat. We had agreed I should be mindful of the risks of contracting salmonella from partially cooked eggs, so there was no way I could justify eating Rowley Leigh's custard. Was there?

Avoiding raw or partially cooked eggs was initially a bit of a minefield. I was suddenly approaching everything purely in terms of food safety. Being pregnant tips you into a topsy turvy world in which health professionals deem many highly processed foodstuffs fine to eat while many which are artisanal or home made are to be avoided at all costs. All those little things which indicate that a restaurant is worth visiting, such as properly made mayonnaise and ice cream are suddenly off limits. Forget the eggs Benedict (a double whammy of danger), forgo the crème anglais. No longer can you be satisfied with the knowledge that the eggs are organic or free range, now you need to know that they've been pasteurised too, and how many restaurants use pasteurised organic eggs? Then there are the things at home you've previously taken for granted. For me, it was ice cream, always homemade and usually with a custard base.

So why is it deemed necessary to avoid undercooked eggs? I've researched the subject and am still unsure. Most people remember Edwina Currie ruining the British egg industry overnight in the late 1980s with her infamous comments about salmonella infecting UK egg production systems. Since then the industry has had a complete overhaul, particularly with the introduction of the Red Lion Quality Code of Practice in 1998 which includes among other things the compulsory vaccination of egg-laying flocks against salmonella. Better practice seems to have worked – the last Food Standards Agency survey in 2004 (pdf), showed that only one box in 290 showed any traces of salmonella and of the 28,541 eggs tested, not one was infected. So it would seem that the risk of catching salmonella from British eggs is absolutely minuscule. Unfortunately, some caterers do use eggs imported from places where contamination is much higher, with a survey in 2006 showing the rate to be one box in 30.

Not only is the risk of catching salmonella small, the risk of it affecting your unborn child is almost unheard of. The infection won't pass through the placenta to the foetus, unlike listeria which can do untold harm. However, after reading on the New Zealand government website that in very rare instances it can cause stillbirth, I thought it best to double check.

According to Patrick O'Brien, consultant obstetrician at UCH and a spokesperson for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, in severe cases of salmonella the related dehydration and high fever in the mother could cause a problem for the foetus, just as with any other infection, but these are generally symptoms which are well managed by medical professionals. He has dealt with some extremely severe cases of salmonella and none have caused any harm to the foetus. It is worth noting, however, that in the spirit of never say never he would not completely rule out an instance in which salmonella could cause harm directly to the foetus. It seems that it is all very low risk, and it has left me questioning the official advice which still recommends that pregnant women avoid raw or partially cooked eggs, and wondering whether it's worth being quite so assiduous.

For custard near-misses aside, assiduous I have been. It's not been as hard as I initially envisaged, despite giving up on the idea of finding pasteurised eggs (I couldn't face the idea of buying cartons of egg whites, and pasteurised egg yolks for the home cook don't seem to exist). So I've eschewed homemade mayonnaise in favour of delicious homemade salad cream (courtesy of a Gary Rhodes recipe). It's meant that I have rediscovered my childhood love of egg and salad cream sandwiches (infinitely preferable to the egg mayonnaise combination), and I swear that my ice cream-making has improved.

Ice cream has been my biggest craving throughout pregnancy (not surprising, considering pregnant women's need for calcium and the fact that it has been 'proven' to make you feel good), and I was initially quite upset at the thought of giving up my favourite recipes. Luckily I found some wonderful alternatives; I was assured by Matteo Pantani of Scoop that most modern Italian gelato doesn't contain eggs at all, apart from certain varieties which use small amounts of pasteurised egg yolk for flavour. Some British firms, including the Cotswold Ice Cream Company are following suit. Not only that, a chat with Christian Oddono yielded some invaluable tips on how to ensure homemade ice cream is as creamy and smooth as anything normally made with a custard base - the main trick is to use honey or invert sugar.

So despite having found some very acceptable alternatives to eggs, I'm still none too sure that being so careful is necessary. Is the official advice as such because it is impossible to know with certainty where your eggs come from? Are eggs a red herring, with outbreaks of salmonella being traced to other foodstuffs, like undercooked chicken as well as fruit and vegetables? Am I letting fear overtake common sense here? What do you think? And finally, do you have any good eggless ice cream recipes you'd care to share?