Storing Food for Emergency

March 21, 2020

Storing Food for Emergency – Good or Bad

Fueling your body during an emergency is very different from your everyday diet. (Think of how an emergency fund functions differently than a savings account.) Because you’ll probably expend more energy than you normally would during your emergency plan, you should eat high-energy, high-protein foods. And because you’ll have a limited supply in your emergency preparedness kit, the higher-quality foods you eat—and the fewer of them—the better. “In a disaster or an emergency you want those calories,” says Barry Swanson, a food scientist at Washington State University. “You want some nutrients and some fibre—something to keep your diet normal.”

If you’ve been given ample warning that a a storm is coming, there’s still time to run to the market and pick up more hurricane food: fresh produce and other items that have a shorter shelf lives. Most of these foods will last at least a week after they’ve been purchased and will give you a fresh alternative to all that packaged food. Make sure to swing by your local farmers’ market if it’s open; because of the produce there is fresher than what you’ll find at your typical supermarket, you’ll add a few days to the life span of your fruits and vegetables.

Can COVID-19 (coronavirus) be passed on through food?

There is no evidence to suggest that COVID-19 is passed on through food.

Coronaviruses need a host (animal or human) to grow in and cannot grow in food. Thorough cooking is expected to kill the virus.

Is there a risk to consumers from 'open' food?

As usual, it is important to maintain good hygiene practices around open food (e.g. unpackaged bread, cakes etc.).

However, it is possible that infected food workers and/or consumers could introduce the virus to food, by coughing and sneezing, or through hand contact. It is therefore important that they strictly follow good personal hygiene practices. Customers and food businesses are expected to behave in a hygienic manner and food business are obliged to monitor such displays.

Food is not directly involved in the transmission of COVID-19. The main risk of transmission is from close contact with infected people. Hence the advice to public and staff alike is to wash your hands.