Should I eat this: lactose-intolerant edition

June 11, 2017 5:55 PM

Our power went out for 6 hours today. Should we toss the unopened (refrigerated) almond milk carton and unopened coconut milk yogurt?

After 4 hours we opened the refrigerator door to eat and put some medication on ice. The temp when the power went back on 2 hours later was 50 degrees, so we threw out the soft cheeses and deli meats. But what about the non-dairy alternative stuff? It was all in the bottom part of our fridge (coldest part). I never thought I would ask this question, but my lactose-intolerant food safety Google-fu is failing me.

posted by Maarika to Food & Drink (11 answers total)

I'd keep and eat it because it was unopened!
posted by gemutlichkeit at 5:57 PM on June 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

Apologies if this is obvious, but did you look at the almond milk label to see whether it even needs to be refrigerated if it hasn't been opened?
posted by FencingGal at 5:59 PM on June 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Yes, it's the "keep refrigerated" almond milk variety (Trader Joes pink carton, unsweetened unflavored).
posted by Maarika at 6:03 PM on June 11, 2017

It's fine, I'd eat it. If anything, maybe look out for a shorter life than normal.
posted by DarlingBri at 6:12 PM on June 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

As long as both were pasteurized, I would consume both of those (but try to finish them quickly). I believe all almond products have to be pasteurized by law, but check to be sure. You should be able to look up the yogurt online.

I assume none of you have weakened immune systems? If so, I would avoid them just to be safe.
posted by Candleman at 6:15 PM on June 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

I'd assume that they are just fine. But I'm the kind of rugged person who would have eaten the deli meats too
posted by Jacen at 6:58 PM on June 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

Unless the door of the fridge was wide open, it was probably still totally acceptably cold (40°F) for most of that time anyway. How much bacteria can grow in an unopened carton in, what, an hour or two? Pretend you just bought it and the store was really far away.

Unless you're totally freaking out over it, yeah, whatever, eat that.
posted by Sys Rq at 8:19 PM on June 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

I have gone camping with stuff like this and drunk them at much warmer temperatures after much longer, without problem. The meats and cheeses were probably fine too.
posted by deadwax at 2:06 AM on June 12, 2017

Let smell be your guide. That's a very short outage, your fridge stayed pretty cold. In warm weather, stuff goes bad faster. I just turned my fridge to colder for that reason. I'd have eaten the deli meat, too.
posted by theora55 at 10:07 AM on June 12, 2017

Coldest part of the fridge, in-fridge air temperature only got up to about 50F after 6 hours? The seal hasn't been broken? Yeah, I would absolutely keep and use those. That stuff probably spends longer above 40F when you're transporting it from the store to your fridge.
posted by asperity at 10:20 AM on June 12, 2017

Smell isn't always a reliable test of whether something is safe to eat.

That said, as long as the almond milk and yogurt were pasteurized and unopened, I'd eat it. Heck, I'd most likely even eat it if it were dairy milk and yogurt.
posted by Aleyn at 5:59 PM on June 12, 2017 [1 favorite]