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Food Safety News published guidance on Oct. 9 for handling food, drinking water and kitchen items after hurricanes cause flooding or prolonged power outages. It advises discarding refrigerated and frozen food after several days without power, avoiding anything that may have contacted floodwater, and cleaning and sanitizing eligible dishes and utensils.
Food Safety News published guidance on Oct. 9 urging people recovering from hurricanes to discard food and household items that may have been exposed to floodwater, and to treat prolonged power outages as a potential food-safety hazard. The advice matters because contamination may not be visible or detectable by taste, and unsafe water or food can remain a risk after floodwaters recede.
The report says never taste food to judge whether it is safe. If a refrigerator and freezer have been without power for several days, it advises throwing away their contents. The report points readers to a chart for decisions about food after a prolonged outage, but the supplied material does not include that chart or specify exact time and temperature thresholds for individual foods.
For drinking, the guidance says to use bottled water or other beverages that have not contacted floodwater. Bottles with screw caps are not waterproof; any bottled drink that may have been exposed should be discarded. If bottled water is unavailable, the report directs readers to learn how to boil or disinfect water safely.
Food that is not in a waterproof container should be discarded if it may have touched floodwater. The report identifies screw-cap, snap-lid, pull-top and crimped-cap containers as not waterproof. Undamaged, commercially prepared food in all-metal cans or retort pouches may be salvageable if handled according to the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service’s consumer guide for severe storms and hurricanes.
Flood Exposure Can Affect More Than Food
Hurricane recovery can leave households dealing with unsafe food, uncertain water supplies and contaminated kitchen equipment at the same time. The guidance gives residents a practical distinction: some sealed, commercially prepared products may be cleaned and saved, while food in non-waterproof packaging and certain porous or hard-to-sanitize items should be discarded.
Following these steps can also limit the chance that residents rely on smell, appearance or taste to make a safety decision. Those checks cannot establish that food is safe, according to the report. Decisions are especially consequential when outages last several days or floodwater has entered a home, though the source does not provide a case count or estimate of health effects tied to these events.
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The Recovery Hazards Behind the Advice
The Oct. 9 report frames its advice around two common hurricane-related hazards: flooding and prolonged loss of electricity. Floodwater can contact food packaging, drinking containers, dishes and utensils. An outage can leave refrigerated and frozen food without dependable cooling. The article’s instructions address those risks rather than offering a general hurricane-preparedness checklist.
For salvageable hard-surface items, the report says to wash metal pans, utensils and ceramic dishes that contacted floodwater with hot, soapy water, rinse them, then sanitize them. Sanitizing options listed are boiling in clean water or immersing the items for 15 minutes in a solution of one tablespoon of unscented liquid chlorine bleach per gallon of drinking water. Wooden cutting boards, plastic utensils, baby-bottle nipples and pacifiers that may have contacted floodwater should be discarded because, the report says, they cannot be saved.
“Never taste a food to determine its safety.”
— Food Safety News
Specific Food Decisions Need More Detail
The supplied report does not include the referenced outage chart, so it does not give item-by-item discard guidance or precise outage thresholds beyond advising that food in a refrigerator and freezer be thrown away after several days without power. It also does not describe local conditions, such as whether municipal water systems or particular homes have been affected by a storm.
The advice about salvaging cans and retort pouches refers readers to a separate USDA FSIS guide. The supplied material does not reproduce that guide’s cleaning steps. Residents should not assume a package is safe merely because it appears intact if it may have contacted floodwater; the report’s salvage advice is specifically for undamaged, commercially prepared food in the named packaging and directs readers to USDA instructions.
Use USDA Guidance and Ask for Help
People making decisions about flood-exposed food or utensils can consult the USDA FSIS consumer guide cited by the report. For questions, Food Safety News lists the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline: 1-888-674-6854, available Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time in English or Spanish. The report also gives the email address MPHotline@usda.gov and the Ask USDA live-chat service.
Further guidance may depend on local water advisories, the length of a specific outage and the condition of individual food packages. The supplied article does not announce a later update or identify a particular hurricane recovery operation.
Key Questions
Should I taste food to check whether it is safe after a hurricane?
No. Food Safety News says never to taste food to determine its safety. Follow discard guidance instead.
What should I do with food after several days without power?
The report advises throwing away food in the refrigerator and freezer after several days without power. It references a separate chart for more specific decisions, but that chart is not included in the supplied material.
Can I drink bottled water that may have touched floodwater?
The report says to discard bottled water or other beverages that may have contacted floodwater. Screw caps are not waterproof. Use drinks that have not been exposed, or follow reliable instructions for boiling or disinfecting water.
Can flood-exposed dishes and utensils be cleaned?
Metal pans, utensils and ceramic dishes may be washed with hot, soapy water, rinsed and sanitized by boiling in clean water or by immersing for 15 minutes in one tablespoon of unscented liquid chlorine bleach per gallon of drinking water. Discard wooden cutting boards, plastic utensils, baby-bottle nipples and pacifiers that may have contacted floodwater.
Source: rss
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