Some of my food in the freezer started to thaw or had thawed when the power came back on. Is the food safe? How long will the food in the refrigerator be safe with the power off?

Nev­er taste food to deter­mine its safe­ty! You will have to eval­u­ate each item sep­a­rate­ly. If an appli­ance ther­mome­ter was kept in the freez­er, read the tem­per­a­ture when the pow­er comes back on. If the appli­ance ther­mome­ter stored in the freez­er reads 40°F or below, the food is safe and may be refrozen. If a ther­mome­ter has not been kept in the freez­er, check each pack­age of food to deter­mine the safe­ty. Remem­ber, you can’t rely on appear­ance or odor. If the food still con­tains ice crys­tals or is 40°F or below, it is safe to refreeze.

Refrig­er­at­ed food should be safe as long as pow­er is out no more than 4 hours. Keep the door closed as much as pos­si­ble. Dis­card any per­ish­able food (such as meat, poul­try, fish, eggs, and left­overs) that have been above 40°F for 2 hours.