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The Greene County Combined Health District has released guidelines for how restaurants and schools should treat various refrigerated foods and ingredients that have been affected by a power outage.

The guidelines may also be useful for residents trying to decide what to discard from their refrigerators that were affected by a power outage. Earlier this week, Greene County health officials said some food items, such as butter/margarine, hard and processed cheeses, canned fruits and fresh fruits, fresh mushrooms, herbs and spices, fruit pies, breads, rolls, cakes and some condiments, such as jelly, relish, mustard, catsup, taco sauce and barbecue sauces, may all be kept.

Such foods have attributes or ingredients that make them less perishable than meats and dairy products, said Rick Schairbaum, program services manager who oversees restaurants inspections for the Xenia-based health department. For example, the acidity in condiments such as taco sauce and barbecue sauce help keep them from spoiling, Schairbaum said.

Some items from the freezer also may be refrozen, including breads, frozen pancakes/waffles and hard cheeses. If ice crystals have remained and food feels cold, as if it has been refrigerated, food should be safe to refreeze, the health district said. Although food may be safe to refreeze, it may take away some of the texture/flavor of the food, health officials said.

Still, Greene County health officials advised schools and restaurants to follow the same rule as consumers: "When in doubt, throw it out."

Refrigerated foods

Here are the health district's guidelines for restaurants and schools in dealing with refrigerated foods that have been exposed to temperatures of 40 degrees or higher for a period of two hours or longer:

• Meats, poultry, seafood (including lunch meats, and hot dogs): Discard

• Cheese, soft or shredded: Discard

• Cheese, hard or processed: Safe

• Dairy, including milk, cream, yogurt, sour cream: Discard

• Butter/margarine: Safe

• Eggs, raw or cooked: Discard

• Custard/pudding: Discard

• Sauces such as tartar sauce or horseradish: Discard

• Fresh fruit, cut: Discard

• Fresh fruit, raw/uncut: Safe

• Breads: Safe

• Rolled dough/pasta: Discard

• Fresh vegetables, cut: Discard

• Fresh vegetables, raw/uncut: Safe

• Salads: Discard

Frozen Foods

Guidelines for frozen foods that have thawed and have been exposed to a temperature of 40 degrees or higher for more than 2 hours:

• Meats, poultry, seafood: Discard

• Breaded meat products such as chicken nuggets, breaded shrimp: Discard

• Casseroles: Discard

• Eggs, egg products: Discard

• Ice cream: Discard

• Cheese, hard: Refreeze

• Cheese, shredded: Discard

• Fruits/fruit juice: Refreeze unless sign of mold/odor

• Vegetables/vegetable juice: Discard if temperature reached 40 degrees or higher for six hours or more

• Breads: Refreeze

• Cakes/pastries: Discard

• Frozen waffles/pancakes: Refreeze

• Frozen dinners: Discard

• Frozen pizza: Discard

For more information contact the Greene County Combined Health District's Environmental Health Division at (937) 374-5606.