Arkansas Department of Health: Safe food and water storage key in inclement weather

With bad weather in the forecast, knowing how to keep food and water supplies safe is important at this time of year.

The Arkansas Department of Health has some recommendations on how to be prepared in case of power outages:

Have a refrigerator thermometer. Know where to get dry ice. Keep a few days worth of ready-to-eat foods that do not require cooking or cooling on hand.

When the power goes out:

Keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible. Food will stay cold for about four hours if the refrigerator is left unopened.

The refrigerator should be kept at 40 F or below for proper food storage.

Once the power is restored:

Check the temperature inside the refrigerator or freezer.

If the thermometer was kept in the freezer, check the temperature when the power comes back on. If the freezer is 40 degrees or below, the food is safe and may be refrozen.

If there was no thermometer in the freezer, check each package of food to determine its safety. If the food still contains ice crystals or is 40 degrees or below, it’s safe to refreeze or cook.

Refrigerated foods should be safe as long as the power was out for no more than four hours.

Discard any perishable foods such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs or leftovers that have been above 40 degrees for two hours or more.

Water safety

Water may not be safe to drink or cook with, however unless told otherwise by local officials it should be safe for bathing or cleaning.

Listen to and follow public announcements from local authorities for information on wether tap water is safe to drink or to use for cooking or bathing.

If a boil order is issued, water used for drinking or food preparation must be boiled briskly for one minute prior to use.

Boil notices known to Arkansas Department of Health will be listed on healthy. arkansas.gov /eng/autoupdates/ boilordr. htm.