How safe is the food in that refrigerator that superstorm Sandy left powerless?

Once the power has been off for 24 hours, it’s a safe bet that it’s time to toss out perishable foods in the refrigerator. Items left in a closed freezer may last a bit longer.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends tossing all perishables — meat, poultry, fish, eggs and leftovers — after the power has been off for four hours or more.

Ice cream that has gotten soupy and milk should be tossed as well, the CDC says.

“You really don’t want to (eat melted ice cream) because milk in general is a great incubator for so many things,” said Jason Bolton, an assistant professor for food safety at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. “All it takes is you take a couple of scoops out of it, the ice cream scoop wasn’t all that clean and then you’ve got the growth of something really gross there — or dangerous.”

Hard cheeses and butter will last longer than milk or ice cream, but don’t eat them if they’ve been sitting in a powerless refrigerator for two or three days.

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Bolton recommends following the old adage, “When in doubt, throw it out.”

According to food safety experts’ “two-hour rule,” meat, poultry and other perishables should not be stored at temperatures above 40 degrees for more than two hours. Food in the refrigerator starts to warm above 40 degrees within two to four hours of the power going off.

Unless your refrigerator has a thermometer that says this temperature has not been exceeded, throw perishables out.

Don’t rely on touch “because there’s really just no way to tell,” Bolton said. “There are microorganisms out there, especially the pathogenic ones, that can produce toxins and things like that that are not always destroyed during cooking. It’s just not worth it at this point.”

Dr. Stephen Sears, the state epidemiologist, suggests using a food thermometer directly on anything you’re not sure of before cooking it to make sure it hasn’t warmed to an unsafe level.

“The most important thing is just keep your refrigerator and freezer doors closed,” he said. “That will maintain the temperature longer. When you go in and out, you’re putting in ambient air which will increase the temperature overall.”

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What about eggs? The general rule, Bolton said, is that once they’re refrigerated they should stay refrigerated. So unless they were scrambled within a few hours of the power going out, or they’ve been stashed in a cooler, they should go in the trash bin as well.

Condiments are probably OK, although they may spoil eventually and won’t taste good.

“If you have concerns and you’re going to be out of power for a while, taking a lot of the food out of the refrigerator and packing it in coolers with ice is a good way to go,” Sears said. “Things like meat, fish, eggs, spoilable leftovers, those are the things we’re really concerned about.”

When it comes to foods in the freezer, items that still have ice crystals on or in the food are safe to re-freeze. But if they’re fully thawed, even if cool to the touch, they are not necessarily safe.

Freezers will hold their temperature 24 to 48 hours, Sears said, “especially if you don’t keep going in and out of them. So that food is generally safer overall.”

If you’ve had notions of donating food to a local food pantry because throwing it out seems wasteful, resist the impulse. It may be generous, but could make someone else sick.

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“I think if you’re tossing it because you’re concerned about its safety, it’s probably not a good idea to take it to a food bank,” Sears said.

Both Bolton and Sears said now is the time to plan for the next storm and power outage.

Bolton said it’s a good idea to buy thermometers for your refrigerator and freezer so you can track temperatures once power goes off.

If you know a potentially dangerous storm is coming, pack the freezer because a full freezer stays colder longer.

“I put one-gallon water jugs or cleaned-out (water-filled) milk jugs in the freezer,” Bolton said. “I put several of those in the freezer to add bulk to it so they freeze solid with ice, and they can be used if I want to transfer the food to a cooler to keep.”

Finally, if you suspect a power outage is on the horizon, lower the temperatures of your refrigerator and freezer beforehand so they will keep food safe longer.

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Staff Writer Meredith Goad can be contacted at 791-6332 or at:

mgoad@pressherald.com

Twitter: MeredithGoad

 


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