FEATURE SCRIPT - Food Safety Advise for Power Loss INTRO: When
natural disasters strike your home, will the food in your
kitchen be safe? US Dept of Agriculture experts have the
answers. USDA’s Pat O’Leary Pat O’Leary (VOICE OVER): Add to the
list of issues caused by hurricane winds and flood waters: food
safety experts with the U.S. Department of Agriculture say if
you’ve lost power for days, the food in your refrigerator is
probably not safe and should be thrown away. For shorter outages
follow Kathy Bernard: When the power goes out the most important
thing you can do is to keep the doors of the refrigerator and
the freezer closed. You want to keep the cold air in there as
long as possible to keep the food safe. The refrigerator will
probably stay safe for only about four hours after losing power
if you keep the door closed. A fully stocked freezer should stay
safe for about two days if you don’t open the door. If it’s half
full then it’s safe for about a day. If it looks like the power
is going to be out f