Post-Hurricane Irene response resources

Hurricane Irene hit most of the east coast  of the U.S. and Canada with high winds and rain Saturday and Sunday. Despite the Internet clamor of over-hyping the storm, hundreds of thousands of of folks lost power or experienced flooding. There have been multiple boil water advisories issued and reports of waste water system breaches. After speaking with a few North Carolina Extension Agents over the past couple of days it looks as though some of the state’s Eastern counties will be without electricity for at least a few days, maybe more.

Last week I put out a pre-hurricane preparation infosheet; here’s a follow-up of three others for post-storm food safety issues. The first two, adapted from USDA files, detail in-home decision making for discarding and keeping food that might have been temperature abused while the power was out. The final infosheet focuses on the risks associated with eating fresh produce from flooded gardens (adapted from Barb Ingham and Steven Ingham from U Wisconsin.
 

Click here to download the frozen foods/power outage food safety infosheet.

Click here to download the refrigerated foods/power outage food safety infosheet.

Click here to download the garden flooding food safety infosheet.

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About Ben Chapman

Dr. Ben Chapman is a professor and food safety extension specialist at North Carolina State University. As a teenager, a Saturday afternoon viewing of the classic cable movie, Outbreak, sparked his interest in pathogens and public health. With the goal of less foodborne illness, his group designs, implements, and evaluates food safety strategies, messages, and media from farm-to-fork. Through reality-based research, Chapman investigates behaviors and creates interventions aimed at amateur and professional food handlers, managers, and organizational decision-makers; the gate keepers of safe food. Ben co-hosts a biweekly podcast called Food Safety Talk and tries to further engage folks online through Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and, maybe not surprisingly, Pinterest. Follow on Twitter @benjaminchapman.