To the editor:
With the upcoming planned power outage by Duke Energy on Nov. 18 for parts of Brown County, there have been some questions on food safety. As this planned outage will be at night, some of the suggestions here may not apply to this particular situation, but there may be another power outage from natural causes sometime this winter, so keep these suggestions in mind.
Here are some suggestions from the state health department and the Brown County Health Department to keep food safe during a power outage:
Note the time the outage starts.
If you are cooking, stop, and discard any food that is not completely cooked. (If the power comes back on within two hours, make sure to cook food up to 165 degrees for at least 15 seconds.)
Don’t put hot food into refrigerators or freezers. This will raise the temperature inside and might compromise the other food in these units.
If you can keep food hot, to hold it, keep it over 135 degrees.
To cool food quickly, you can use an ice water bath outside the container or pan.
Keep freezer doors closed. A full freezer should keep food safe for about two days, a half-full freezer about one day. If some food thaws, and the partially thawed food contains ice crystals, you can refreeze this food as long as it has not gone above 41 degrees.
In refrigerators, food in a power outage is safe for about four to six hours. For a longer outage, put frozen gel packs or bags of ice in the refrigerator, or alternately, move the food to the freezer.
When in doubt, throw it out!
Discard the following foods if they are kept over four hours and above 41 degrees:
Meat, poultry, eggs, fish
Milk, cream, soft cheeses
Casseroles, stews or soups
Lunch meats and hotdogs
Cream-based foods
Pumpkin or custard pie
Cookie dough made with eggs
Whipped butter
Cut melons
Cooked vegetables.
The following foods can be kept safely at room temperature for a few days:
Butter or margarine
Hard cheeses or processed cheese
Fresh, uncut fruits and vegetables
Dried fruits
Opened jars of vinegar-based salad dressings, jelly, relish, taco sauce, barbecue sauce, mustard, ketchup, olives, peanut butter
Fruit juices
Fruit pies, breads, rolls, muffins
Cakes (not cream cheese-frosted or cream-filled)
You could fill a cooler with food prior to the outage since there is a scheduled time and date, and in this cooler, put bags of ice or frozen gel packs to keep food cold. Check your food temperatures with a thermometer; cold food should be at 41 degrees or lower.
If you have to refreeze food, the quality may suffer, so use this food as soon as possible.
Jennifer J. Heller, Brown County Health Department
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