Power outage: food safety question

[jjdbike]

Hey friends,

I didn’t worry about this till I looked it up online. Our electricity went out yesterday at 10 am. It came back on at 7:00 pm. We didn’t open it until this morning.

I figured because we didn’t open it and it was a cool breeze North San Diego County day, everything would be fine. I ate som leftover macaroni salad and some chicken salad for breakfast and had milk in my coffee. Everything was fine.

I looked it up online, fda & food safety. They advise discarding all perishable foods.

I have two Wagyu briskets, double vacuum packed stacked in back of bottom shelf. Pack date is 4/07. I was planning on wet aging 42 days, smoking and serving to my church group.

Now I’m worried. Do I need to toss them out? Should I smoke them this weekend and freeze till our church dinner? Might they be fine?

Thoughts?
Thanks in advance.
JD

[Spinaker]

Do not take my advice as gospel or anything..........for me........

No way in heck I would toss those out! Those are some DENSE pieces of meat. The fridge was kept closed, it's well insulated, Plus, you are going to cook those bad boys till they hit 190-200 anyway.

Again, not a doctor or a scientist or a what have you........but I am a lover of brisket and I say smoke 'em when you want.

[texastweeter]

If the cryo inflated toss it. Otherwise smoke on

[Panhead John]

Hate to say this but everywhere I’ve read says the max. meat can be safe in a power outage is 4 hours, and that’s with not opening the fridge, which you didn’t. At 5 hours past that I wouldn’t take a chance, especially since it was to be for other people.

[texastweeter]

Bet you wore a helmet, knee pads, elbow pads and gloves when you rode your bike too...lol

[Panhead John]

Ain’t worried about me but he’s gonna be feeding a bunch of old people your age.
🥸

[fzxdoc]

Did you do a temp check on any of the food?

Kathryn

[Panhead John]

I was wondering that too.

[Ace]

+2 Depending on how tight your refrigerator is would make a difference. Was there any frozen items in there and if so, were they melted?

[jjdbike]

The ice had not melted, just a little stuck together.
It’s side by side fridge, only about 3 years old

[N227GB]

When I come back after being away for weeks, the first thing I do is check the bin under the ice maker. If I see significant signs of melting, I throw everything out.

Now, before I leave town, I vacuum-seal anything that isn’t already sealed. If things melt, at least they’re contained and won’t leave a mess. I love living here, but hurricanes hit us hard.

[jjdbike]

Did you do a temp check on any of the food?

Kathryn

Unfortunately not. I used to have a digital fridge / freezer thermometer but I couldn’t find it.

I’d hate to have to toss them. Lotta $. But it would be WAY worse to get anyone sick. Do you think it would be more safe to cook at 27 days out from packing date, and freeze, than take to the full 40 to smoke and serve?

I’ve been told that if beef spoils it is obviously by the smell. It that true?

Does the fact that they are double vacuum packed, original cryo bag and a hd vacuum sealed bag, stacked in back of bottom shelf help?

Katheryn what would you do?

JD

[fzxdoc]

I'm afraid I don't have any good advice, especially not knowing temp each food item you want to keep. Some refrigerators and freezers, if not opened, can hold the food temperature at a safe level for a long time. And frozen food, if kept below 40° internal, can just be refrozen...

[fzxdoc]

...I think I would toss the refrigerator perishables and keep the large frozen items, like your stacked briskets, since it's unlikely they could have thawed.

Still, it would bother me unless I knew for sure, esp. if serving kids, pregnant women, immunocompromised people, or the elderly.

I really feel bad for you, it's a terrible thing to have to waste that food. Sometimes insurance companies will replace food loss costs up to $500 without requiring you to have to meet your deductible first...

[fzxdoc]

...that's what our insurance company did when the hurricane totaled our power for 3 months.

I wish you well.

Kathryn

[jjdbike]

Power came back on at 7pm,
when checked it at 5:00 i did notice that a message “low temp” was lit up. When I reset it, it didn’t comes back on. It was probably on all night.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

It's gonna depend on a bunch of things. I drank milk that had been in my work fridge after a 24 hour outage I wasn't emailed about until I was 2 cups of coffee in. No issue. But I've had things spoil obviously in less than 4 hours of a fridge going out. I'd probably risk it for myself, but I definitely wouldn't service it to others ESPECIALLY at church where the free food crowd tends to be the older members of the congregation.

I would talk to my accountant and figure out how to claim the thrown away meat AND the replacement meat as a charity expense.

[jjdbike]

It's gonna depend on a bunch of things. I drank milk that had been in my work fridge after a 24 hour outage I wasn't emailed about until I was 2 cups of coffee in. No issue. But I've had things spoil obviously in less than 4 hours of a fridge going out. I'd probably risk it for myself, but I definitely wouldn't service it to others ESPECIALLY at church where the free food crowd tends to be the older members of the congregation.

I would talk to my accountant and figure out how to claim the thrown away meat AND the replacement meat as a charity expense.

Thanks,
it’s not a free food crowd. It a small group that meets over a potluck dinner.
JD

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

gotcha, I'd wait and see how you feel after this plays out for a few hours and then give the crowd the option of which direction you go.

[Jfrosty27]

Mom always said, when in doubt, don’t.
Your call but I would toss it. Just not worth the risk. But as they also say, that’s just me.

[Panhead John]

Another thing to think about is not only was the power off for over twice the recommended limit, 9 hours vs recommended 4 hour limit, how much longer was the food at “possibly” dangerous temps before the fridge came back up to normal operating temperature? It could have taken a few more hours to do that once the power came back on. I agree with Jim.

[DavidNorcross]

Tough call for sure. I subscribe to when in doubt throw it out…

[yakima]

I am more tolerant of food risk with my family; not so much when others are involved. Adult daughter has referred to our kitchen as a Petri dish.
Can you cook a portion of one brisket, using yourself as a guinea pig?
When you look at wet or dry aging beef, it seems that beef is pretty tolerant of sitting around. Pork, not at all.

[RonB]

I just came back to this thread to suggest doing this. cut a small portion off and cook and eat it. Your goal is to see if it's safe - not a meal.

Another thought is will any spoilage get worse while it dry ages? I do not know the answer...

[CRO]

I agree with most.
In doubt, throw out.
Get a generator

We live in Northern Illinois. We lost power in July one year for about a couple days. It was hot. After about a day I got a generator (never been used since). We have our kitchen fridge and a garage fridge. If I remember correctly we discarded most of the items in the kitchen fridge. The stuff in the kitchen freezer and garage freezer was still frozen rock solid.

[texastweeter]

This is why I roll with a thermometer in my fridge with a readout on the outside magnet. I've had my power go out longer than that and it stay below 42° in my fridge.

[HawkerXP]

+1 for the thermometer.

[fzxdoc]

I have a Thermoworks exterior reading thermometer in each refrigerator and freezer. It's worth the investment, for the peace of mind, if nothing else. I wish I had one that stored temp data though, even for a week at a time. That would be sweet.

K.

[Donw]

I’d look into buying one of these. I personally have one in each of my freezers and several fridges.

https://industrial-lab.thermoworks.com/products/node

[dpearce]

+1