FOOD SAFETY AFTER POWER OUTAGE

--Tips to Protect Your Familyfrom Foodborne Diseases--

Tallahassee–The Florida Department of Health in Leon County urges residents to take precautions with food after an electrical outage from the storm.  Keeping food the proper temperature helps control contamination.  Please follow these tips:

• If you don’t know how long your home has been without power, discard all refrigerated food items that could be hazardous (like meats and dairy items).
• Refrigerators and freezers that have lost power but have maintained a temperature of at least 41 F  should be kept closed to preserve the cold temperature and food.  Frequent opening and closing of the door will cause the temperature to increase faster and put the food’s safety at risk, so don’t open the doors.
• The refrigerator will keep food safely cold for about 4 hours if it isn’t opened.
• A full freezer should keep food safe for approximately 2 days.  A half-full freezer will keep food safe for approximately 1 day.  Adding bags of ice or dry ice to the freezer will also help to maintain the lowest temperature possible.  Fifty pounds of dry ice should hold an 18-cubic foot, full, reach-in freezer for two days.  (NOTE: Don’t use dry ice to cool food in walk-in refrigerators or freezers because if it could leak onto food and contaminate it.)
• Check the temperature of the food in the freezer to make sure it has not risen to more than 41 degrees F .  If it has, discard all potentially hazardous foods in the freezer.  If items in the freezer are 41 degrees F  or below, you can still use the food.
• If you don’t know when the power went out, how long it was out, and when it came back on, follow good food safety practices: "When in doubt, throw it out!"
• Any home that cannot provide adequate refrigeration should only serve prepackaged food that doesn’t require refrigeration.

If you have further questions or concerns, call the Environmental Health Division at the Department of Health in Leon County at 850-606-8350.