Lexington-Fayette County Health Department offers food safety tips for power outage, flood victims

With some folks still without electricity in the wake of storms that caused widespread power outages and some flooding, the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department is saying, “When in doubt, throw it out.” The department’s advice is intended to prevent storm victims from making themselves sick by eating refrigerated or frozen food that’s gone bad. Kevin Hall is their spokesman.

“One of the first things anyone should do if there is a power outage is try to keep your refrigerator and freezer closed as much as possible. Every time you're opening those doors, you're letting the cool air out and the warm air in, so you're shortening the amount of time that you can keep those foods safe.”

Hall said refrigerated items should be thrown out after four hours without power, while food in a fully stocked freezer can last 48 hours – and half-stocked, half as long. He said the rules are different for food that’s come into contact with flood waters.

“If anything has been touched by flood waters, food-wise, do not eat it. Throw that out, because those waters contain bacteria and have a high risk of contamination. If you have food that's not in a waterproof container, anything that's a screw cap or snap lid, make sure that those are getting thrown out too.

Hall said cardboard containers with food or liquids touched by flood waters should also be thrown out – and anyone cleaning up after being flooded should dress appropriately, because even a small cut can get infected.

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