Is Arby's Safe During Pregnancy? Roast Beef, Deli Sandwiches, Shakes and What to Order

Arby's is built on sliced meat, and sliced meat is exactly what pregnancy advice tells you to be careful with. So it's fair to wonder whether the whole menu is off limits. It isn't. The roast beef that made Arby's famous is handled very differently from the turkey and ham in a deli case, and most of the rest of the menu is cooked hot to order.

This guide goes through the menu using Arby's own ingredients guide, explains why the roast beef is a different case, and flags the two sandwiches worth skipping.

The Menu, Item by Item

Is Arby's Roast Beef Deli Meat?

This is the question most people are really asking, and the answer is "not in the way that matters."

The CDC advises pregnant women to avoid unheated deli meat and cold cuts, or to heat them to 165°F or until steaming hot first. The concern is Listeria, a bacteria that can grow slowly in the fridge on ready-to-eat sliced meat that's cooked, sliced, packed and stored cold for days or weeks before you eat it.

Arby's roast beef doesn't follow that path. Arby's ingredients guide lists it simply as beef, water, salt and sodium phosphates. According to Tasting Table, it arrives at each restaurant in a bag with a basting solution, is slow-cooked in-house, and is then sliced for sandwiches. So the beef on your bun was roasted in that kitchen and sliced warm, rather than pulled cold from a package.

That makes it a much lower-risk choice than a cold cut, but the rule that protects you is still heat. Eat it hot. If your sandwich arrives lukewarm, ask them to remake or heat it. The sandwiches with a hot element make it easy:

• Beef 'n Cheddar: roast beef with hot cheddar cheese sauce and Red Ranch on an onion roll.
• Classic French Dip & Swiss: dip each bite in the hot au jus.
• Classic Roast Beef: the original, on a toasted bun.

Roast beef is also one of the better fast food sources of iron, which you need 27 milligrams of a day in pregnancy. Our iron guide explains why the iron in red meat is so easy to absorb.

The Two Cold Sandwiches to Skip (or Ask to Heat)

Roast Turkey Ranch & Bacon Sandwich. Arby's describes it as thinly sliced oven-roasted turkey with bacon, aged cheddar, red onion, tomato, lettuce and ranch on honey wheat bread. It's built cold, and cold sliced turkey is exactly what the CDC's deli meat advice covers. Skip it, or ask if they can heat the turkey until it's steaming.

Cold Ham & Swiss Sandwich. Some Arby's locations sell a cold ham sandwich with lettuce, tomato and mayo on honey wheat. Same rule. The Ham & Swiss Melt is the better order, because the ham is heated with melted Swiss on a sesame bun. Check that the ham itself is hot, not just the cheese.

The same logic applies to the ham sliders and the ham breakfast sandwiches: fine when the ham is properly hot. Our deli meat guide explains the rule in full, and our Subway guide shows how the toasting trick works at sandwich chains.

Cheesesteaks, Gyros, Chicken and Steak Nuggets

These are all cooked hot to order, so they're straightforward. The Angus and chicken cheesesteaks come with melted white American cheese, which is a pasteurized process cheese. The Greek Gyro uses flame-seared gyro meat with a tzatziki sauce in warm pita. Yogurt-based sauces like tzatziki are fine when the yogurt is pasteurized, which is standard for commercial yogurt in the US. The crispy chicken sandwiches, tenders and wraps are all fried hot. Our Philly cheesesteak guide covers cheesesteaks more generally.

Are Arby's Sauces Safe?

Yes. Horsey Sauce and the mayonnaise both list egg yolks, which sometimes worries people. They're commercially made sauces, and the FDA notes that commercial mayonnaise, dressings and sauces contain pasteurized eggs that are safe to eat. Arby's Sauce is tomato-based, and the ranch and Red Ranch are commercial dressings. The cheddar cheese sauce is served hot. Our mayonnaise guide explains why store-bought mayo is fine.

The Cheese at Arby's

Arby's ingredients guide lists the cheddar slice as made from cultured pasteurized milk, the American cheese as a pasteurized process cheese, the mozzarella sticks as pasteurized low-moisture mozzarella, and the cream cheese in the Jalapeño Bites as pasteurized too. Swiss is a hard cheese, the lowest-risk group. Nothing on the current menu uses queso fresco or a soft, mold-ripened cheese.

Shakes, Lemonade and Iced Tea

Shakes. The vanilla, chocolate and Jamocha shakes all start from a commercial shake mix of whole milk, cream, nonfat milk and grade A whey. The Jamocha adds a syrup made with cocoa and instant coffee, so it has some caffeine. Arby's doesn't publish the amount, so include it in your tally for the day.

Lemonade. Arby's Classic Lemonade is made from water, sugar and concentrated lemon juice, so it's a commercial product rather than fresh-squeezed. That's different from Raising Cane's, where the lemonade is squeezed fresh and unpasteurized.

Iced tea. The sweet and unsweet iced teas are brewed black tea. Mayo Clinic puts brewed black tea at about 48 mg of caffeine per 8 ounces, and fountain cups are much bigger than that, so a large iced tea can take a real share of ACOG's limit of under 200 mg a day. Our caffeine guide helps you add it up.

Is Arby's Nutritious Enough in Pregnancy?

A roast beef sandwich brings decent protein and iron, which is more than a lot of fast food can say. The weak spots are sodium and vegetables. Most Arby's sandwiches are salty, and curly fries add a lot more. The FDA's Daily Value for sodium is less than 2,300 milligrams a day, and one sandwich with fries and a sauce can use a big share of it. Arby's publishes full nutrition details on its website if you want to check your usual order.

An easy way to balance it out: skip the fries or get the smallest size, drink water, and add fruit or vegetables at your next meal.

With Gestational Diabetes, Nausea or Heartburn

Gestational diabetes: a Classic Roast Beef or a Greek Gyro with water is a reasonable choice. Go easy on the curly fries, and skip the shakes, lemonade and sweet tea, which are all high in sugar. Our gestational diabetes meal plan shows how to balance a meal like this.

Nausea: a plain Classic Roast Beef without sauce is about as gentle as Arby's gets. Sip water rather than soda.

Heartburn: spicy cheesesteaks, Horsey Sauce, fried sides and big portions are the usual triggers. A small roast beef sandwich sits easier.

Three Easy Arby's Orders

• The classic: Classic Beef 'n Cheddar, small curly fries, water.
• The higher-protein one: Classic French Dip & Swiss with au jus, no fries, and water.
• The craving fix: Classic Roast Beef with Arby's Sauce and a small vanilla shake.

Drive-Thru and Leftovers

Eat your Arby's while it's hot. If you bring half a sandwich home, get it into the fridge within 2 hours and reheat it until steaming before you eat it, since cooked sliced meat that's been sitting cold is exactly what the deli meat advice is about. Leftovers keep 3 to 4 days in the fridge, according to the USDA. Our leftovers guide covers the rest, and our eating out guide has the same approach for other restaurants.

This article is general information and does not replace advice from your doctor, midwife or dietitian. Menus and recipes change, so check Arby's current ingredients guide if you have an allergy or a specific concern.