When in Doubt, Throw it Out: Food Safety During a Power Outage

As of 8 p.m. Tuesday, ComEd reported roughly 266,000 customers were still, without power. More than 10,000 of those homes and businesses were in the Bolingbrook region, which includes Darien. 

And the more than 10,000 refrigerators in those homes are slowly heating up. 

The DuPage County Health Department offers some food safety tips for dealing with outages that last longer than two hours:

• Good news for food hoarders: Food in a packed freezer will stay edible for 48 hours. A half-full freezer will be OK for 24 hours. In either case, avoid opening the freezer door. If you can tell food thawed and refroze, it’s best to toss it. 
• An ice-filled cooler—even a cheap Styrofoam one—can help preserve meat, eggs, dairy and other perishables. 
• Once the power comes back on, whip out the food thermometer. If the temparature in spoilable food is more than 41 degrees, throw it out.