Food safety during a power outage: what to keep, what to throw away

Since the majority of Hydro-Quebec customers who lost power will have to wait more than 24 hours before it's restored, preventing illness from spoiled groceries needs to be top of mind, says a food safety expert at McGill University.

"There can be a range of symptoms, most often diarrhea and vomiting, the ones we're all familiar with but foodborne infections can also be quite serious," said Jennifer Ronholm, a professor of food microbiology.

"Spoiled food, if it's been spoiled for long enough and people choose to consume it - people have died from eating spoiled food before so it can be very serious,"

 The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) advises households to inspect food items carefully but cautions that spoiled food may not look contaminated and so "when in doubt, throw it out."

LISTEN on CJAD 800 Radio: What foods can survive the power outage?

DURING THE POWER OUTAGE

• try not to open the refrigerator or freezer door to maintain the cold temperature. Freezing halts the growth of bacteria.

Check the temperature inside your refrigerator if possible. It should ideally be between 0-4 degrees C according to recommendations on a Quebec government website.

• food stays frozen in a full freezer for about 48 hours and about 24 hours in a half-full freezer
• food will stay cold in an unopened refrigerator for only about 4 hours

LISTEN on CJAD 800 Radio: Food safety during a power outage: what to keep, what to throw away

HOW TO HANDLE FOOD AFTER A POWER FAILURE

Food that has gone bad doesn't necessarily smell bad or look off, so after 4 to 6 hours without power, food has to be sorted carefully.

Throw away any food that has thawed after being at room temperature for two or more hours and discard any items that do have a foul odour or that appear spoiled

Products that contain ice crystals or are still at normal refrigerator temperature can be re-frozen if the centre of the food item is still hard

When getting any takeout food, the CFIA also suggests people ask restaurants how their food was handled and stored in the event they lost power temporarily. The same advice applies to grocery stores.

The Quebec government site has a guide to help with the decision-making. For example, milk, open containers of infant formula, cream cheese, soft cheese and open containers of yoghurt should be discarded, while some firm block cheeses, processed cheese, butter and margarine can be conserved.

Ronholm said all the recommendations apply to food vendors as well, "because it's up to them to keep consumers safe."

"I sat in a parking lot waiting for my daughter to get out of school this afternoon and watched them throw out buckets and buckets of food. It was very unfortunate but they're doing the right thing," she said.