With many people across Ireland dealing with power outages, a dietician has warned against eating defrosted or unrefrigerated foods.

Storm Éowyn battered Ireland last week, damaging infrastructure and leaving many without power.

As communities deal with the fallout of these outages, the public have been warned to be cautious about food that has been sitting in their fridge or freezer.

On The Pat Kenny Show, dietician Sarah Keogh said if people are in doubt about the safety of defrosted food, it is better to just get rid of it.

"For things like ice-cream, fish and shellfish, if they've started to defrost, throw it out," she said.

"If you have solid raw meat and there are still clear ice crystals on it and it’s still clearly frozen, that should be OK - but the rule is if in doubt, throw it out."

An open fridge with various items of fresh food and drink on the glass shelves, Alamy

According to Safefood, if your power is out for less than two hours, the food in your fridge and freezer is safe to eat.

However, if your power is cut for over two hours, you should throw out the food in your fridge.

If your freezer begins to work after 24 hours, you should leave the door of it closed to prevent the temperature from rising.

If it takes longer than 24 hours for your freezer to restart, all the foods should be checked individually.

Defrosted food

Safefood have said defrosted fruit is safe to refreeze while vegetables, raw meat and poultry can be put back in the freezer if there are still ice crystals present.

Baked items with cream frosting or filling, puddings and ice cream must be thrown away once defrosted.

Cooked foods and shellfish that are showing signs of thawing or have been in a temperature over 5C for over three hours must be thrown out.

Feature image: An open freezer, Alamy