Keeping Food Safe During Power Outages

Bitter cold weather experienced by several parts of the nation over the past two weeks that even included locales like a stretch of the Deep South where sub freezing temperatures and even snow are rare occurrences. In some cases, the power outages caused by these conditions served as a reminder in food safety.

“Knowing the general basics about food safety and power outages and some tips and things to do can be helpful in saving your food,” said Meredith Carothers of USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service.  She  provides some rules of thumb regarding how long food in a refrigerator or freezer remain safe after those appliances lose power. First, remember that cold will be retained inside a fridge or freezer after the power goes out, however.

“Food needs to be below 40°F in the refrigerator to be considered safe," she said.  "So, once that temperature starts creeping above 40°F, you've reached the danger zone, and it's going to only have a certain amount of time before it's unsafe.”

As for the length of time where a refrigerator retains a safe temperature for food.

“On average, a refrigerator that has no power is going to keep a safe temperature for about four hours.”

Consideration needs to be made prior to the four-hour deadline about transferring food inside the fridge to a cooler with ice to keep it safe until the power returns. If a cooler or ice are not available, after those four hours, refrigerated food needs to be discarded.  Carothers explains what should be considered perishable and unsafe to consume or use.

“Some of the things that would be unsafe would be your raw meats and poultry, your cooked leftovers, anything that's a leftover that has been cooked would need to be tossed," Carothers said.  "Your dairy products, eggs, any soft cheeses, any fruit, vegetables that are already cut. So, whole fruits, like a whole apple or a whole carrots or something like that, those are safe and fine, but if it's been cut, or if it's been prewashed, then it needs to be discarded and then an array of condiments and things.”

Regarding safe storage of food inside a freezer that loses power.

“It's going to maintain that cold temperature and keep that food at a safe temperature for about 24 hours if it's half full, and 48 hours if it's full," Carothers added.  "The reason the 48 hours if it's full is because the more feed that's in there that's frozen is kind of acting as a cold source for itself. As it's thawing, it's still emitting cold temperatures for that long amount of time.”

She noted, some folks faced in this situation during bitter winter conditions try to be creative and keeping their food safe as they store foods outside.

“They use the outside temperature, almost like nature’s refrigerator.”

And while possible, this can be done safely.

“We really try and encourage not to use outside as an option for storage of food," Carothers said.

Due to unpredictability of storage conditions from varying temperatures to potential contamination by animals and bacteria.

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