Food safety during a power outage

AccuWeather

Severe weather can lead to power outages, which can lead to food being negatively impacted. USDA's Meredith Carothers offers food safety tips in the event of a power outage.

Transcript

00:00Well, severe weather could bring power outages

00:03and that could put your food in the fridge

00:06and in your kitchen at risk.

00:08Here with the tips on what to know

00:10and what to do ahead is Meredith Carruthers

00:14with the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service.

00:18Thanks for joining us, Meredith.

00:19And how can you prepare before a power outage

00:22or a weather emergency for safe food and water?

00:28Absolutely, so if you have severe weather

00:29that's coming your way and you're prone to power outages

00:32or have any inkling that the power might go out,

00:35you wanna start taking action as soon as possible.

00:37So if you have access to a cooler,

00:40ability to get ice or have frozen gel packs,

00:42it might be useful to put any perishable foods

00:45into the cooler if you expect that your power outage

00:47might last more than four hours.

00:49That'll help keep food nice and safe

00:51during a prolonged power outage

00:52and make sure that you don't have any foodborne illness

00:54after the power comes back on.

00:56If you aren't sure how long the power outage will be

01:00or if you don't have access to a cooler

01:01with cold sources like ice or cold packs,

01:03you can start putting some of that perishable food

01:05that you might not need right away into the freezer

01:08because the freezer will keep a safe temperature

01:10for longer than the refrigerator will in a power outage.

01:13And if you're expecting things like floods,

01:14you can start elevating those foods

01:16or any non-perishables onto higher surfaces.

01:19That way they're not gonna be as likely

01:20to come in contact with flood water.

01:23Are there any other steps you can do

01:24if you can't pre-advance or prepare?

01:26Say you were traveling and you couldn't actually do

01:28some of that prep work,

01:29is there anything during the power outage

01:31or after you can do?

01:34Yep, so if the power outage is happening,

01:36you can keep your fridge and freezer doors closed

01:39as long as possible.

01:41The refrigerator is going to have about four hours

01:43for a safe temperature during a power outage.

01:46After that, it's not likely that that food is still safe

01:48and the freezer will have about 24 hours to 48 hours

01:52depending on how full it is.

01:53The more full it is,

01:54the longer it'll stay safe at a cold temperature.

01:56So if you are in a power outage,

01:59keep your doors closed.

01:59And if it is past those timeframes,

02:01start discarding anything that is perishable.

02:04And if it's within that timeframe,

02:05you can consider your things still safe.

02:07Really quick, when power returns,

02:09how can you determine what food is still safe

02:12to eat in about 20 seconds?

02:14So for anything that is perishable,

02:17that is gonna be raw meat, poultry,

02:19deli meats, anything that's cooked, even leftovers,

02:23all of those are going to be considered perishable

02:25and no longer safe.

02:26Any dairy is usually not gonna be safe.

02:29Things that are safe would be things

02:31like your whole vegetables and any condiments.

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