Food Safety in a Power Outage
By: Jayne Ann Bugda
Updated: October 29, 2012
Power outages could be a major problem for a large portion of our area.
Food safety experts say the clock starts ticking inside your refrigerator and freezer as soon as the power goes out.
So, try to keep the fridge door closed to contain the cool air as much as possible.
The U-S-D-A says a refrigerator will keep food safely cold for about 4 hours if it's left shut.
A full freezer will hold the temperature for about 48 hours if unopened.
Items that should hold up include processed and hard cheeses, butter, whole fruits and whole vegetables, fruit juice, and condiments like ketchup and mustard.
Items you should throw out, if they get too warm -- include meats, soft cheeses, eggs, bacon, vegetable juice, produce that's been cut up and any leftovers.
Food safety experts say the clock starts ticking inside your refrigerator and freezer as soon as the power goes out.
So, try to keep the fridge door closed to contain the cool air as much as possible.
The U-S-D-A says a refrigerator will keep food safely cold for about 4 hours if it's left shut.
A full freezer will hold the temperature for about 48 hours if unopened.
Items that should hold up include processed and hard cheeses, butter, whole fruits and whole vegetables, fruit juice, and condiments like ketchup and mustard.
Items you should throw out, if they get too warm -- include meats, soft cheeses, eggs, bacon, vegetable juice, produce that's been cut up and any leftovers.
