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.
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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.