Keeping Food Safe During a Power Outage

Power outages happen for various reasons. Severe weather can certainly be a top cause. The challenge is deciding what food is safe to keep or what should be tossed.

First of all, some general guidelines:

• Keep the appliance doors closed to keep the appliance cold as long as possible.
• Never taste food to determine its safety after a power outage.
• Keep an appliance thermometer inside the refrigerator and freezer.
• Discard any perishable foods, such as meat, poultry, milk, fish, eggs, deli items or leftovers after 4 hours without refrigeration.
• Frozen foods that contain ice crystals or are still below 40°F can be saved.

Here are some resources to help guide you to make safe choices:

• Food Safety During Power Outage – foodsafety.gov
• A Consumer’s Guide to Food Safety: Severe Storms and Hurricanes – USDA
• Removing Odors from Refrigerators and Freezers – USDA

More information can be found at the KSRE Extension Food Safety website on Disasters and Power Outages.