Food Safety During Power Outages

Power can suddenly go out because of severe storms, heat waves causing high or spiked usage, man-caused events.  It is inconvenient and frustrating at best, and brutal at worst.  

Prolonged power outages can be dangerous.  For one thing, when we lose power we lose refrigeration.  Food safety becomes an issue.  


Here are guidelines you can refer to:

• Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible. First use perishable food from the refrigerator. An unopened refrigerator will keep foods cold for about 4 hours.
• Then use food from the freezer. A full freezer will keep the temperature for about 48 hours (24 hours if it is half full) if the door remains closed.
• Use your non-perishable foods and staples after using food from the refrigerator and freezer.
• If it looks like the power outage will continue beyond a day, prepare a cooler with ice for your freezer items.
• Keep food in a dry, cool spot and keep it covered at all times.
• Surrounding your food with ice in a cooler or in the refrigerator will keep food colder for a longer period of time during a prolonged power outage.
• Food that is perishable should be safe IF the outage is no more than four hours.  
• Keep the door closed as much as possible to maintain a safe cool temperature
• Discard perishables such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and leftovers that have been above 40 °F for over two hours.  Keep a digital thermometer in your kitchen.  
• Don’t taste-test food to determine if it is safe to eat.  
• Appearance and odor are not reliable ways to determine food safety.
• Discard any food that comes into contact with raw meat juices.   

FOODS listed below are SAFE above 40 degrees. 

• Processed and hard cheeses:  (Cheddar, Colby, Swiss, Parmesan, Provolone, Romano
• Grated Parmesan, Romano that are stored in can or jar 
• Butter or margarine
• Opened fruit juices, canned fruits, fresh fruits (not cut), coconut, raisins, dried and candied fruits and dates. 
• Peanut butter, jelly, condiments: relish, taco sauce, mustard, catsup, olives, pickles, Worcestershire, soy, barbeque sauces, opened vinegar-based dressings
• Bread, rolls, cakes, muffins, quick breads, tortillas, waffles, pancakes, bagels, pies, fruit
• Fresh mushrooms, herbs, spices,
• Raw vegetables

It bears repeating:  If you don’t see it above in the FOODs that are SAFE, the rule is DISCARD if it has been above 40 degrees F for 2 or more hours.