By Dr. Madelyn Fernstrom
Power outages often accompany big storms. While Hurricane Sandy might not knock out your electricity this time, it’s good to know the basics of food safety related to your refrigerator and freezer.
If you don’t already have a refrigerator thermometer, run – don’t walk – to get one at any store selling kitchen gadgets (including most supermarkets). This is a key step to following my four-hour/40 degree food safety rule.
All food in your refrigerator is safe to eat after a power outage, if the temperature remains below 40 degrees. An ideal range for food safety is 36–38 degrees. At 40 degrees or higher, bacteria start to multiply quickly and can easily cause food-borne illness.
If you have a thermometer, your food might be good for much longer than four hours (that’s with the door closed!). If you don’t have a thermometer, stick with the four-hour rule and toss most foods from your refrigerator. Don’t use the taste or smell test to determine food safety — it’s not reliable. My motto with food safety? When in doubt, throw it out!
Should You Save or Throw? After four hours, or for a refrigerator with a temperature of 40 degrees or more, use the following guidelines:
1. Protein: Meat, Poultry, Seafood, and Eggs
SAVE: NOTHING!
THROW: raw or leftover cooked meat, poultry, seafood, tofu, and raw or cooked eggs
2. Dairy
SAVE: Butter, hard cheese, and processed cheese
THROW: soft cheeses, milk, cream, and shredded cheese
3. Fruits/Veggies
SAVE: Fresh whole fruits, fruit juice (opened), canned fruits, and raw vegetables
THROW: cut-up fruit, bagged salad, vegetable juice (opened), and cooked vegetables
4. Condiments/Dressings
SAVE: ketchup, mustard, pickles, peanut butter, and jam/jelly,
THROW: open mayonnaise, tartar sauce, and horseradish
5. Leftovers
SAVE: NOTHING!
THROW: All cooked foods — even those that are "save" in other categories above.
And what about your freezer? With a freezer that is half full, if you keep the freezer door closed, your food is good for about 24 hours. With a freezer is full, you’ll have about 48 hours of safe freezer foods.
You can refreeze foods if there are still ice crystals remaining in it and the temperature is below 40 degrees.
This was very helpful yesterday, thanks for posting. Do you have some healthy, but long-lasting, foods you can suggest to keep on hand in the event of emergency?
ReplyDeleteHere are some healthy non-perishable foods, with a very long shelf life. A good addition to any pantry!
DeleteNuts, Soy nuts, Dried Fruit, Peanut Butter, Crackers, Tuna in Can or Pouch, Cans of black beans, white beans, protein bars, cereals, cans of evaporated milk, non-refrigerated milk in a box (also comes as almond or soy milk)