Does anyone know about food spoilage durring power outages?

Question

I live in the north east and just got a foot of snow!!!! i lost power for a couple of days and don't know what to throw out.
mayo?
Jam?
Cheese?
Salad dressings?
etc...
how can you tell??

Answer 1

Throw away anything that contains animal products definitely, and you'll have to let your nose be your guide for the rest. So, probably most of it is useless now.

Answer 2

This happened to me, but it was in July and it got into the 90's and I opened up my cabin and it was gross, the stench, flys on the floor, and the cleaning up, I even ended up purchasing a new refrigerator, as I couldn't get it from the stench. at least it happened to you in the winter, which will provide a natural refrigeration for a few days, put the food in your garage or outside in a shaded area, hopefully by then you will have power restored, I believe 40 degrees is around the cut off point so keep a temper guage in the area too.

If you at all question wether the food has spoiled or not throw it out and get new don't take the chance that it may be spoiled.

Answer 3

Much as it pains me to say so, with very few exceptions, it might be best/safest to just throw away everything. During a power failure, your fridge/freezer should be able to keep food preserved OK for up to 24 hours, assuming you don't open the doors much. After "a couple of days", even the best-insulated appliance would warm up too much to be safe.

Keep in mind also that even when the power came back on, it was a few more hours until the fridge was back to "normal" temperature.

The next time (hopefully there won't be one!) this happens, you might try storing foods in the snow---there seems to be plenty of it.

Answer 4

It really depends on how often you opened the door or if you tossed stuff in the freezer. However, I'd call your insurance company and use the spoilage clause for renter's/homeowners insurance if you have it. There's no deductible on spoilage.