Hello all, I am 4 weeks pregnant and would still like to have raw foods in much of diet. Bought a spagetti squash today at a local market Does anyone konw if it is safe to eat raw?

Its all relative.

Yes, but make sure you wash the outside well with hot soapy water before cutting into it; the knife could carry a contaminant like botulism into the flesh when you slice into it, otherwise.

Gald to hear it is edible raw I never even knew about botulism before you mentioned it.. thank for the info.

Claza,

Botulinum, the organism that causes botulism toxicity, dwells naturally in soil, especially farm soil. It can easily be cleansed from the surface of a fruit or vegetable. The problem is when that organism penetrates the surface, like when you slice through an invisible colony of them when slicing a squash open with your knife, or when the fruit or vegetable gets nicked or cut in the field, by an insect or bad weather, and the organism penetrates into the interior. The contamination isn't always obvious until its later stages. Anything that comes in contact with the soil for long periods, like winter squashes and melons, but also trailing tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, etc. could have potentially picked the organism up. I bought a watermelon last summer and left it sitting on my kitchen counter for a week before noticing there was a tiny hole, likely made by a beetle, in the pale side, the one was laying on the ground against the soil in the watermelon patch. When I cut the melon open, sure enough, the flesh was fizzing and putrid smelling, like rotten carcass--textbook botulism contamination.