Residents Affected by Power Outages
Columbus Public Health - Press Release
Saturday, June 30
Keeping Food Healthy and Safe a Difficult Task for Residents Affected by Power Outages
The recent power outages in central Ohio have affected thousands of residents and businesses, and could put at risk the safety of your food. Knowing how to determine if food is safe and how to keep food safe will help minimize the potential loss of food and reduce the risk of foodborne illness. The following information will help you make the right decisions for keeping your family safe during an emergency.
ABCD’s of Keeping Food Safe in an Emergency:
- Always keep meat, poultry, fish, and eggs refrigerated at or below 40 °F and frozen food at or below 0 °F. This may be difficult when the power is out.
- Keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible to maintain the cold temperature. The refrigerator will keep food safely cold for about 4 hours if it is unopened.
- A full freezer will hold the temperature for approximately 48 hours (24 hours if it is half full) if the door remains closed.
- Obtain dry or block ice to keep your refrigerator as cold as possible if the power is going to be out for a prolonged period of time.
- Fifty pounds of dry ice should hold an 18-cubic foot full freezer for 2 days.
The refrigerator temperature should be 40 °F or below; the freezer, 0 °F or lower. If you’re not sure a particular food is cold enough, take its temperature with a food thermometer.
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