Food safety and emergency resources.

Food safety step "Chill"
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Learn how to keep your food safe for consumption.

food in power outage

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

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

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