Anchorage, AK--( Jan. 8, 2010)--The U.S. Food Safety Inspection Service has issued a special winter time warning about how to handle perishable foods during an emergency. While we here in Alaska may have the solution due to our cold wintertime temperatures there are other preventative measures availablel.
I recently interviewed Don Harman at Tednologies, Inc. and he showed me the full array of shipping containers that they have available for commercial use. Some of these have battery operated hot/cold temperature control devices built into them.
Yes, just plug them in to keep them charged-- they use less energy than a regular sized refrigerator. When the power goes off they can keep perishable foods cold down to 32F for up to five days.
While Harman thinks that the FSIS has some good information on how to prevent perishable foods from spoiling during a power outage his company offers viable solutions to thwart shipping and emergency food safety.
Here is what the FSIS offers:
ABCD’s of Keeping Food Safe in an Emergency
Always keep meat, poultry, fish, and eggs refrigerated at or below 40 °F and frozen food at or below 0 °F. This may be difficult when the power is out.
Keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible to maintain the cold temperature. The refrigerator will keep food safely cold for about 4 hours if it is unopened. A full freezer will hold the temperature for approximately 48 hours (24 hours if it is half full) if the door remains closed. Obtain dry or block ice to keep your refrigerator as cold as possible if the power is going to be out for a prolonged period of time. Fifty pounds of dry ice should hold an 18-cubic foot full freezer for 2 days. Plan ahead and know where dry ice and block ice can be purchased.
No comments:
Post a Comment