During or after an extended power outage, it’s important to check and sort out all the food in your fridge or freezer to avoid food poisoning.
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Here is some information you should know, the Quebec government:
Refrigerator
1. Keep the doors closed and monitor the temperature as it should be between 0 and 4 degrees Celsius;
2. The fuller the refrigerator, the longer the food can be kept. The latter could stay cold between 4 and 6 hours;
The following should be discarded if out of service for more than 6 hours:
1. Open milk and milk foods, cream, soft cheese, cream cheese and open yoghurt;
2. Open vegetable juices, unpasteurized fruit juices, prepared cooked or raw vegetables;
3. Salads with meat, fish or poultry and pasta;
4. Ready meals, raw or cooked, based on meat, poultry or fish, as well as sauces and soups;
5. Peel eggs, liquids and egg dishes.
- Listen to Mario Dumont’s interview with Andréanne Martin, dietician and nutritionist QUB radio :
freezer
1. Frozen foods can be kept for about 48 hours in a well-maintained full freezer and 24 hours in a half-full freezer.
2. Keep the doors closed and consider the room temperature. The fresher it is, the cooler the freezer stays;
Here’s what to check when power comes back:
1. Partially thawed foods with frost on the package: they can be refrozen if the center of the food is still hard;
2. Defrosted raw foods that stayed below 4 degrees can be cooked immediately and refrozen after cooking;
3. Fully thawed foods such as hard cheese blocks, baked goods, pasteurized fruit juices and fruits can be refrozen with the packaging intact;
4. Completely thawed perishable food should be discarded if exposed to temperature above 4 degrees; this applies to meat, poultry and fish, seafood, dairy products, eggs and ready meals containing these foods.