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“Power outages are more than an inconvenience. They can create food safety hazards that families cannot see, smell, or taste, and they can also put hundreds of dollars’ worth of food at risk at a time when families are already dealing with high grocery prices,” says Dr. Darin Detwiler, food safety advocate, author, and educator at Detwiler Consulting Group . “Preparation matters both for protecting health and for protecting the value of the food we bring into our homes.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), foodborne disease sicken an estimated 1 in 6 Americans (or 48 million people) every year; 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die. Knowing how long food in the fridge remains safe to eat during a power outage depends on the type of food and duration of the outage.…