Power-Outage Food Safety
Food Safety
WWYD Wednesday
The power went out overnight. Six hours later, the lights are back—but the refrigerator has been without power the whole time.
The milk still feels cool. The leftovers look normal. Nothing smells “off.” Someone says, “It’s probably fine. Let’s keep it.”
What would you do?
- Keep the refrigerated food because it still feels cool?
- Taste a little to check?
- Throw away the perishables and inspect the freezer separately?
- Something else?
What would you trust most: time, temperature or smell? Explore the fact check below.
Fact Check Friday
Claim: “If refrigerated food looks and smells normal after an outage, it’s safe.”
False. Unsafe food can look, smell and even taste normal. Never taste food to decide whether it is safe.
With the doors kept closed:
- Refrigerator: about 4 hours.
- Full freezer: about 48 hours.
- Half-full freezer: about 24 hours.
After four hours without power or another cold source, discard refrigerated perishables such as meat, fish, eggs, milk, cut produce and leftovers. If food has been kept at 40°F or below, use the official keep-or-discard guidance for that food.
Frozen food can generally be refrozen or cooked if it still contains ice crystals or measures 40°F or below. Check frozen food separately instead of automatically throwing everything away.
Prepare before an outage: keep appliance thermometers in the refrigerator and freezer, have a cooler and frozen gel packs available, keep doors closed, and move perishables to ice before the four-hour window ends.
Bug’s Takeaway: Time and temperature beat smell. When in doubt, throw it out.
Prepared Not Panicked.