Food Safety After Power Outages | WSU Extension | Washington State University (2024)

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Food Safety After Power Outages | WSU Extension | Washington State University? ›

General Food Safety of Refrigerated Foods

As the USDA notes in Keeping Food Safe During an Emergency, your refrigerator will keep food safe for up to 4 hours during a power outage. Keep the door closed as much as possible. Discard refrigerated perishable food such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and leftovers after 4 hours without power.

After four hours without power, throw out perishable foods in the fridge, such as meat, fish, cut fries and vegetables, eggs, milk and leftovers. After 24 hours, throw out perishable foods in the freezer. Throw out foods with strange odors, colors, or textures. Throw out food above 40 degrees.

Things like butter or margarine, fresh fruits that are uncut, fruit juices, peanut butter, ketchup and jelly are safe to eat after four hours without power. You can get a more detailed list of what refrigerated foods you should keep and what foods you should throw away by looking at the chart below.

Condiments such as ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, pickles, relishes, piquant sauce, oil and vinegar-based salad dressings, Worcestershire sauce and steak sauces should be fine. The acid in them is a natural preservative. Jams, jellies, preserves and syrups are all right, too, because sugar is a preservative.

In fact, even a few hours probably won't hurt. Once you get past four to six hours, though, the safest thing to do is throw out every perishable item in your refrigerator.

Keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible to maintain the cold temperature. The refrigerator will keep food cold for about 4 hours if it is unopened. A full freezer will keep the temperature for approximately 48 hours (24 hours if it is half full) if the door remains closed.

Hard cheeses, like cheddar or swiss, are safe to keep in brick form. Soft cheeses and hard cheeses that have been shredded should be tossed if they were kept above 40 degrees Fahrenheit for 2 hours or longer. Grated cheese, like canned parmesan, is safe to hang on to. Butter and margarine are safe to keep.

If opened mayonnaise, tartar sauce, horseradish, commercial garlic in oil or other spreads (or any salads made with those items) have been held at 50 degrees or above for more than eight hours, discard them.

Food stored in the refrigerator is still safe to eat if the power is out for no more than four hours, according to FoodSafety.gov.

Is ketchup still good after a power outage? ›

Refrigerated foods that can be held at temperatures above 40ºF until power returns include: hard cheeses, butter, margarine, fresh fruits, fruit juice, fresh unpeeled vegetables, salad dressing, ketchup, mustard, olives, pickles, jams, jellies and peanut butter.

The longer you keep the refrigerator closed, that is opening it less during a power cut, the longer you can stretch the life of the food in it. Once the coolness is lost, I would give the yogurt 2–3 days at most, but hard cheeses like cheddar or parmesan should last much longer.

Breads: Rolls, waffles, pancakes, bagels, muffins, quick breads and tortillas do not need to be discarded. Condiments: Opened vinegar based salad dressings, jams, jellies, relishes, taco and barbeque sauces, mustard, ketchup, Worcestershire sauces, soy sauces, pickles and olives do not need to be tossed.

Throw out perishable foodin your refrigerator (meat, fish, cut fruits and vegetables, eggs, milk, and leftovers) after 4 hours without poweror a cold source. Throw out any food with an unusual odor, color, or texture. Check temperatures of food kept in coolers or your refrigerator with a cold source.

The USDA said refrigerators will keep food safe for up to four hours during a power outage. After that, perishable food such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs and cooked leftovers should all be put in the garbage. Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.

While most perishable foods should be thrown out after an extended outage, there are a few items that are safe to consume after a two-hour exposure to 40+ degrees: hard cheeses that are properly wrapped. butter or margarine that is properly wrapped. taco, barbecue and soy sauces.

Observe appearance for mold, sliminess or yeasty smell, discard if appearance is poor. Frozen fruits and vegetables. If ice crystals are still intact and food has remained at 40ºF or less, these products may be refrozen; otherwise, discard the product.

Bacteria can grow rapidly on food left out at room temperature for more than 2 hours. If food is left out in a room or outdoors where the temperature is 90 degrees F or hotter, food should be refrigerated or discarded within just 1 hour. Myth: When I microwave food, the microwaves kill the bacteria.

Leftovers can be kept for 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator. After that, the risk of food poisoning goes up. If you don't think you'll be able to eat leftovers within four days, freeze them right away. Frozen leftovers will stay safe for a long time.