Health Officials Concerned with Food Safety Following Power Outage
By: KARK 4 News
Updated: December 28, 2012
According to the agency, people whose power was out for more than 2 hours should consider refrigerator contents suspect, and if power was out for more than 4 hours, the contents should be considered unsafe.
Freezers are more likely to maintain appropriate temperatures than refrigerators, but are still at risk if power was out more than 24 hours.
According to Dr. Dirk Haselow, Arkansas State Epidemiologist, "Foods most likely to no longer be safe after the outage include chicken or turkey, seafood, any ground meat, any dishes with raw eggs or mayonnaise, any foods with cream, and all milk products. These foods should definitely be discarded. However, all food items are at risk."
Haselow also says you shouldn't trust your sense of smell to determine whether or not the food has spoiled.
