If power fails, food may spoil

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Jan 7, 2004 | by Valerie Phillips Deseret Morning News

Thousands of Utahns found themselves without power during the past few weeks. Many stayed with friends, family or in an emergency shelter and came back to a stinking fridge and freezer.

The Christmas leftovers, the $7-a-pound steaks, the Tombstone pizzas and Lean Cuisines all had to be tossed.

If this happened to you, I'm sorry that this column comes too late to help. But since a few more months of winter are still ahead, there's a good chance that we'll be coping with more power outages. When the power first goes off you can romanticize about a world without electricity -- wrapping up in quilts, playing a board game, telling stories by candlelight or toasting hot dogs and marshmallows in the fireplace.

But, after four or five hours, the novelty wears off. And by then, it's time to prevent your fresh and frozen food from going bad.

The hard part is not knowing how long the outage will last. If electricity is restored within a few hours, you just need to keep the fridge and freezer doors closed to maintain their frigid temperature. If the outage lasts longer than that, you need to take more drastic measures.

To prevent spoilage, meat, poultry, fish and eggs should stay at 40 degrees F or below and frozen food at 0 degrees or below.

If you keep the door closed, the fridge will keep food at or below the 40-degree temperature for about four hours, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture consumer bulletin on food safety. A full freezer will hold the temperature for approximately 48 hours (24 hours if it is half full) if the door remains closed. If your freezer isn't full, group all the items close together so they can help keep the rest cold.

If you think the power is going to be out longer than this, you can prolong the cool temperatures with dry ice or a block of ice. According to the USDA, 50 pounds of dry ice should hold the temperature of an 18-cubic-foot full freezer for two days.

You can also move the food to coolers if you have ice and gel packs to keep it cold.

What about putting food in the snow? The USDA advises against it, since outdoor temperatures can fluctuate. "Frozen food can thaw if exposed to the sun's rays even when the temperature is cold," the bulletin states. "Also, perishable items could be exposed to unsanitary conditions or to animals."

Instead , the USDA advises filling buckets with water and leaving them outside to freeze. Then the ice can go in your fridge and freezer to keep it cold.

This is just my unscientific opinion here, but I'm thinking if, on a cold day, you put the food in a secure cooler with gel packs on your back porch, where it's safe from the sun or animals, it will stay colder than in the house.

If anyone's hungry, use the perishables in the refrigerator first (as long as they don't require cooking). You could post a list of foods that are in the fridge on the door to keep people from opening it and gawking.

Generally, food that has been without refrigeration for less than two hours is safe. Butter, margarine, hard cheeses, waffles and breads, vinegar-and-oil salad dressings, jellies, jams, mustard, ketchup and pickles are safe for a day or two, unless mold or rancid orders develop. Fresh fruits and vegetables are usually safe, too, if they haven't gone mushy or slimy. Milk, eggs (whether hard-cooked or raw), fresh meat, poultry, luncheon meats, pastries with cream fillings and frankfurters should be tossed if they've been held at more than 40 degrees for more than two hours. Discard any food that has an off color or odor.

You can use a food thermometer to take the temperature of each food item. Or check the temperature of your fridge and freezer with an appliance thermometer. Again, 40 degrees is the magic number here.

Foods from the freezer may be safely refrozen if the food still contains ice crystals or is at or below 40 degrees, according to the USDA. Partial thawing and refreezing may reduce the quality and flavor of some foods, so it should be eaten as soon as possible. You will have to evaluate each item separately, and be sure to throw out items that have come into contact with raw meat juices.

E-MAIL: vphillips@desnews.com