Flood Food Safety: What to Keep, Toss, and One Key Tip (Video)

Transcript

Did floodwater touch your food? Find out what to toss.

Did floodwater touch your food? Find out what to toss.

Food Safety After Flood

We'll walk you through the simple rule for flood-affected food, show what to toss, what you can safely keep, and reveal the one essential tip you’ll need at the end.

Why floodwater unsafe

Floodwater is a mix of drain runoff, toilet waste, animal droppings and chemicals. It seeps into any container that isn’t fully sealed, bringing germs inside where washing won’t help. Cooking may kill many microbes, but toxins and chemicals remain.

Fridge safe time

If the fridge door stays shut, the interior stays cold for about four hours after power loss. Anything beyond that should be considered unsafe, even if it looks fine.

Freezer safe time

A full freezer can keep food safe for roughly forty-eight hours, while a half-full one buys about twenty-four hours if the door remains closed. Beyond that, thawed items may spoil.

Throw away flood-touched food

Discard anything that touched floodwater: flour, rice, dal, sugar, tea leaves in bags or sacks; glass jars with screw caps, homemade pickles, chutneys, milk packets, juice cartons, cereal boxes. Even if they seem dry.

Keep sealed cans and dry food

You can save undamaged, factory-sealed metal cans and foil-lined retort pouches. Also keep dry food stored high up in sealed containers that never got wet, as long as they smell normal. Label the lid after cleaning and store safely.

Grain storage in damp house

In a damp home, grain can spoil even if it stayed above water. Check weekly for musty smell or mold, move containers off the floor, use airtight steel or thick plastic bins, and discard any grain that shows signs of spoilage.

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Read the full guide

The full guide is on thecareonline.com. General information only, so check with your doctor for your own case.