How Long Can a Fridge and Freezer Go Without Power?

The light flickers once, twice, then blackout.

It’s near the top of the list of every food business’s worst nightmare: power outages.

No power doesn’t just mean you can’t serve customers or cook food. Power outages also increases the chance of food stored in fridges and freezers going bad and the risk of unnecessary food waste.

As a Food Safety or Quality Manager or other food industry professional, your mind likely races to questions such as how long can a fridge go without power? How long can a freezer go without power?

Take one of the most searched for terms on the topic of having no power:

Power out for 12 hours refrigerator milk

In other words, how long does milk last during a power outage? According to Sam Arora, a Food Scientist and Quality Assurance and Quality Control Director in the dairy, food and flavor industry with 30 years of experience, you can conduct the organoleptic test to first and foremost assess how the milk smells.

Refrigerators are great at keep milk and other dairy products cool. So there's a chance that you're milk is safe to consume so long as you've kept the fridge closed for the entire 12 hour duration of the power outage. However, the Food and Drug Administration suggests that you discard milk if your refrigerator has been without power for more than 4 hours.

That said, when power comes back on, smelling  the dairy will help you assess whether or not it's spoiled. You'll want to look for a sour smell which is foodborne bacteria that lactic acid produces.

Whether the smell is moderately sour or more intense, your milk products are unsafe for consumption. To further validate your observations, check to see if there's a yellowish color or crust forming, or lumps in the milk itself.

Organoleptic tests in food facilities also involve tasting (i.e., not consuming). However, depending on your access to proper scientific tests and budget, you may opt to simply cut your losses and throw the milk away.

We'll answer other questions like that later in this article. But in the off-chance that your food facility’s power goes out, keep scrolling to learn:

• How long you have until you need to throw out food
• How power outages impact different refrigerated and frozen foods
• How you can prepare for power outages that minimize food waste

How long can a fridge go without power?

Food in a fridge without power is good for 4-hour window, as stated by Jesus Garcia, USDA-FSIS Public Affairs Specialist. Once four hours has elapsed, they suggest throwing away refrigerated perishable food (e.g., meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and leftovers).

What foods to discard or keep if your fridge has a power outage

How long can a freezer go without power?

Food in a freezer without power will stay safe for up to two days (i.e., 48 hours) if it's full and up to one day (i.e., 24 hours) if it's half-full, so long as the freezer doors stay closed.

We'll share a complete table below, but it's important to note that you can refreeze foods which have stayed at 40°F or lower.

What foods to refreeze or discard if your freezer has a power outage

Source: FoodSafety.gov

How can food businesses prepare for power outages?

Now that you know the types of foods you need to discard or are able to keep or refreeze, let's jump into some practical preparation tips.

• Calibrate any and all refrigerator thermometers and freezer thermometers: Correct temperature readings are important all the time — not just when power outages occur. If you don't already, consider keeping a battery-powered appliance thermometer in both the refrigerator and freezer.
• Keep daily fridge and freezer temperature logs: Make sure the refrigerator temperature is at 40°F or below and the freezer temperature is 0°F or below. Whether digitally or on paper, keeping a regular temperature log will build your team's knowledge and keep them sharp to notice when temperatures are off.
• Stay on top of fridge layout and organization: As we cover in our free fridge layout food safety poster, the best way to organize your fridge is to: 1) start by cleaning your fridge, 2) use the right containers, 3) group similar foods together, 4) label all food containers, and 5) monitor food ingredients inside the fridge. In the context of power outages, grouping similar foods will likely have the greatest impact because, for example, grouping frozen items together like meat will stay colder for longer in close proximity.
• Develop relationships with local block ice or dry ice suppliers: Being able to quickly and confidently source these two items can make a difference between little to know food waste and excessive food waste. While you're building rapport with that contact, it's worth asking the ice supplier if and how they've ever handled power outages in the past for both themselves and their cilents.
• Be able to access large, deep freezers, insulated coolers, frozen gel packs and, if possible, a generator and something to power it: It sounds excessive, but keeping these items relative accessible — be it on-site or off-site — creates optionality. If you do need to open up the freezer, it should only be fill it with blocks of ice, dry ice, ice packs, etc. And in extreme cases where you need to store food in a deep freezer, you'll need a generator to power it and keep food frozen for longer.

What can food businesses do during a power outage?

During power outages for an extended period of time, the best things you can do to keep food cold and prevent foodborne bacteria are:

• Keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed: The last thing you want to do during a power outage is lose what cold temperature and still safe temperature you have.
• Maintain cooler temperatures of 40°F or below: If you're using additional coolers or you absolutely need to open a refrigerator or freezer to add in ice, make sure there is enough ice to keep food cold and out of the temperature danger zone. As cooler ice begins to melt, add more.
• Purchase dry ice or block ice:  This is where your ice supplier relationship will (hopefully) come in handy. You never know how long a power outage is going to last, so it's best to try and get your hands on some just in case. For context, 50 pounds of dry ice should keep an 18-cubic-foot freezer cold enough for 2 days.
• Use a generator, if necessary: Acquiring and being able to use a generator in dire situations like a power outage is another way to give your team peace of mind and avoid unnecessary food waste and financial loss.

What can food businesses do after a power outage?

If you’ve done all or some of the things listed above, there are just a couple more rules of thumb to remember if you want to ensure food safety and prevent foodborne illness.

1. Never taste food to determine its safety: Smelling it is one thing, but tasting is another and not worth the risk to yourself or your team members.
2. When in doubt, throw it out: Even if it means you’re eating the cost of wasted food, sometimes throwing away potentially spoiled food might be the better choice. Especially if it means protecting the lives of your team and customers.

As a food industry professional, preparing for and managing power outages can be stressful. Especially if you currently manage your facility's food safety manually with paper. Using a digital Food Safety Management Software can help make temperature monitoring much easier and more accurate. So keep scrolling if that's something you're interested in.

Use food safety software to help accurately log temperatures for your fridges and freezers

FoodDocs is an everyday tool that makes it easy for Food Safety and Quality Managers comply with regulatory standards. It's fully customizable and can be set up in 15 minutes to digitize your food safety processes and ensure compliance.

Digital temperature logs

Specifically, our Food Safety Monitoring System helps teams become more efficient and consistent in completing daily temperature logs. This is made easy thanks to our mobile app, which sends team members daily smart notifications reminding them of their temp log tasks.

Corrective action prompts

During the monitoring task setup process, you can specify corrective actions based on your company’s needs. That way, any time that a team member inputs a temperature that is outside of the acceptable range, the FoodDocs mobile app will notify them immediately and give them step-by-step instructions for how to proceed.

Daily task verification

And whether you’re on-site or remote, you can also set up food safety monitoring tasks such as temperature logs and thermometer calibrations that always need to be verified once team members complete their entries. You can choose to verify the monitoring task entries or assign it to a supervising team member. This feature is essential for companies that apply very high food safety standards.

Power outage or not, ensure that you always have detailed logs for any temperature issues in your facility. Try FoodDocs free for 14 days or book a live demo today!

Fridge and freezer power outage FAQs

How many hours can a chest freezer go without power?

As we mentioned above, as long as the doors remain shut, a chest freezer should keep food safe for 48 hours in a full freezer and 24 hours in a half-full freezer.

How long does cheese last in the fridge without power?

How long cheese will last in a fridge without power largely depends on the type of cheese. Assuming the type of cheese was exposed to temperatures of 40°F or above for more than two hours, you should:

• Discard soft cheeses, shredded cheeses, and low-fat cheeses.
• Keep hard cheeses, processed cheeses, and grated parmesan, romano, or a combination of the two (in a can or jar).

Can I refreeze thawed meat?

 If meat thawed and was exposed to temperatures of 40°F or above for more than two hours, you should discard it regardless of the cut.