Food Safety & Emergency Resources

Emergency Food Supplies

• Make An Emergency Food Supply Kit. This section of the FEMA Ready.gov website includes a list of suggested foods to include among your emergency food supplies, food safety steps to take following a disaster, alternative ways to cook food, and how to manage food when your power is out.

Keep your food safe during emergencies: Power outages, floods, and fires

• The USDA website covers how to manage your home refrigerator and freezer during and after a power outage, and what refrigerated or frozen foods will still be safe to eat; and what food and utensils can and cannot be saved after a flood or a fire. (This information is also available as an illustrated 13-page PDF.)
• These CDC Guidelines cover how to be sure your food and water are safe after an emergency.
• FoodSafety.gov has information on how to keep food safe during and after an emergency, including charts on what foods you should throw away after a power outage, for Refrigerated Foods and Frozen Foods.

Emergency Food Worker's Guide to Food Safety

• An Emergency Food Worker’s Guide to Food Safety from Cornell University's Dept. of Food Science, is a 31-page booklet that provides basic food safety instruction for Emergency Workers and Volunteers.
• A Guide to Food Safety in Emergencies is a 24-page booklet for restaurant and institutional food operators, prepared by the Connecticut Dept. of Consumer Protection / Food & Standards Division. It covers immediate steps that must be taken to ensure food safety in a variety of situations, including power outage, flood or sewerage back-up, fire, water service disruption or contamination, and other emergencies; what products can be salvaged or reconditioned; pest control following disasters, and other useful topics.

Water Safety

• The Safe Drinking Water section of the CDC website covers how to make your water safe to drink after a disaster by boiling, using disinfectants, and filters; finding emergency water sources inside and outside the home, some water sources that are unsafe; and useful links.
• The Dealing with a Boil Water Order 2-page document from Cornell University Cooperative Extension on boiling and/or disinfecting water to make it safe to use.
• The Build a Kit – Water on the FEMA Ready.gov website includes tips for storing water in preparation for an emergency.
• Managing Water, also on the FEMA Ready.gov website provides guidance on safe and unsafe sources of water and water treatment methods.
• Please visit our pages in this section on Water & Septic Issues.

Last updated January 29, 2021