By Joe Crea
Food and Restaurants Editor

In any natural disaster, safe food handling practices are vital:

Keep refrigerators and freezers shut tightly. Those cabinets will hold foods safely cold for several hours.

After power has been restored, check the contents. So long as food remains cold throughout, and was initially wholesome, it is safe to cook and eat -- even if thawed.

With a few exceptions, thawed frozen food that remains cold throughout can be refrozen for later use - though there may be changes in - or loss of- texture. Exceptions are frozedn dairy products and whipped toppings.

If any food in your refrigerator or freezer is no longer cold throughout, discard it. One rule always applies: When in doubt, throw it out.