USDA Offers Food Safety Tips for Flooded Midwest

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is issuing food safety recommendations for people impacted by ongoing flooding in the Central and Southern United States.

Severe flooding of the Arkansas, Mississippi and Missouri Rivers has closed hundreds of roads and impacted thousands of homes and businesses. Heavy rainfall shattered records for May throughout the region, swelling rivers to record levels in parts of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.

Flooding can compromise the safety of stored food. FSIS recommends that consumers, and anyone serving food, take the following steps to reduce food waste and the risk of foodborne illness during this and other emergency events.

Plan Ahead If Possible:

• Raise refrigerators and freezers off the floor, putting cement blocks under their corners.
• Move canned goods and other foods that are kept in the basement or low cabinets to a higher area.

Food Safety After a Flood:

• Use bottled drinking water that has not been in contact with flood water.
• Do not eat any food that may have come in contact with flood water.
• Discard any food that is not in a waterproof container if there is any chance it came in contact with flood water. Food containers that are not waterproof include those with screw caps, snap lids, pull tops and crimped caps.
• Discard cardboard juice/milk/baby formula boxes and home canned foods that come in contact with flood waters. They cannot be effectively cleaned and sanitized.
• Inspect canned foods; discard any food in damaged cans. Damage to cans is indicated by swelling, leakage, punctures, holes, fractures, extensive deep rusting or crushing/denting severe enough to prevent normal stacking or opening with a manual, wheel-type can opener.
• Discard wooden cutting boards, plastic utensils, baby bottle nipples and pacifiers that may have come in contact with flood waters. There is no way to safely clean them.
• Thoroughly wash metal pans, ceramic dishes, utensils (including can openers) with soap and water (hot water if available). Rinse and sanitize them by boiling in clean water or immersing them for 15 minutes in a solution of 1 tablespoon of unscented, liquid chlorine bleach per gallon of drinking water.
• Thoroughly wash countertops with soap and water (hot water if available). Rinse and then sanitize them by applying a solution of 1 tablespoon of unscented, liquid chlorine bleach per gallon of drinking water. Allow them to air-dry.
• Note: If your refrigerator or freezer was submerged by floodwaters—even partially—it is unsafe to use and must be discarded. 

The publication “A Consumer’s Guide to Food Safety: Severe Storms and Hurricanes” can be downloaded and printed for reference during a flood.