Is Pet Food Safe After a Flood or a Power Outage? How to Decide What to Keep and What to Throw Out

Discard any pet food that floodwater may have touched, unless it is in an undamaged all-metal can or retort pouch, which can be cleaned and sanitized by a published procedure. That is FDA’s flood rule for food, which we apply to pet food. Bags, cardboard boxes, and tubs or bins with snap lids or screw caps go in the trash. After a power outage, judge chilled or frozen pet food by a thermometer reading, not by how many hours the power was off. Looking and smelling fine proves nothing either way.

This is the post-event triage. What you stored and how much is covered on the two-week shelter-in-place standard and the food and water storage math. This page starts after the water has gone down or the power has come back, when the decision is feed it or bin it.

Most published flood and outage rules come from agencies that handle human food. Pet food sits with FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, which publishes storage and handling instructions and a recall system, but no consumer procedure for salvaging a flooded bag of kibble. Where this page applies a human-food rule to a pet shelf, the sentence says so.

If your animal has already eaten food that was in floodwater, or food you now doubt, call your veterinarian. Do not wait for signs. FDA’s veterinary center says: “If your pet has a health problem related to a pet food or treat, stop feeding the product and call your veterinarian.”

Did floodwater touch it?

Floodwater is not just dirty water. In its guidance on crops meant for animal food, FDA says flood waters from storms often contain sewage, pathogenic organisms, pesticides, chemical wastes, or other toxic substances. FDA’s veterinary center adds a second problem: mold, and the mycotoxins some molds produce, which are toxic to certain animals and people. FDA writes this about crops, not the bag in your utility room, but it shows why the salvage question turns on packaging rather than appearance.

FDA’s flood page (content current as of 03/05/2024) sets the rule: “Discard any food and beverage that is not in a waterproof container if there is any chance that it has come into contact with flood water.” It counts undamaged, commercially prepared foods in all-metal cans and retort pouches (flexible, shelf-stable pouches) as waterproof. It counts containers with screw caps, snap lids, pull tops and crimped caps as not waterproof, and it says to discard cardboard boxes because they cannot be effectively cleaned and sanitized. CDC’s disaster message says the same in broader terms: do not eat food packaged or wrapped in plastic, cardboard, cloth or similar materials that flood waters touched.

Read against a pet food shelf, the sorting does itself:

• A paper or woven-plastic kibble bag is not on the waterproof list.
• A cardboard carton of treats is named for discard by material.
• A resealable tub with a snap lid is named as not waterproof by closure.
• A can qualifies only if it is undamaged and all metal. A wet-food pouch qualifies only if it is an undamaged commercial retort pouch.

Both agency rules are published for human food. FDA’s page never uses the words pet food, and its examples are juice, milk and infant formula. We extend a packaging rule to the pet shelf because the rule is about the container, not the contents, and no federal page cited here gives a different rule for a bag of dog food. If your veterinarian or your state’s department of agriculture tells you otherwise for your situation, follow them.

Michigan’s agriculture department published flood guidance on April 19, 2026. It says that food that comes into contact with stormwater must be discarded, that if you need to evacuate, you should bring your pets with you and essentials such as pet food, and that you should not let pets walk through, swim in, or drink floodwater. It gives no pet food salvage procedure.

Cans and pouches: the published procedure

First, the disqualifier. FDA says to discard food in damaged cans: those with swelling, leakage, punctures, holes, fractures, extensive deep rusting, or crushing or denting severe enough to prevent normal stacking or opening with a manual, wheel-type can opener.

For undamaged all-metal cans and commercial retort pouches, FDA’s procedure (from its page “How To Save Undamaged Food Packages Exposed to Flood Water”) runs in this order:

1. Remove the labels if they are the removable kind, because they can harbor dirt and bacteria.
2. Brush or wipe away dirt and silt.
3. Wash the cans or pouches thoroughly with soap and water, using hot water if available.
4. Rinse with water that is safe for drinking, if available. Dirt or leftover soap reduces the effectiveness of chlorine sanitation.
5. Sanitize by immersion, either by boiling for 2 minutes or by soaking for 15 minutes in a bleach solution (strengths below).
6. Air dry for a minimum of 1 hour before opening or storing.
7. If you removed the labels, re-label with a permanent marker, including the expiration date.

FDA says food in reconditioned cans or pouches should be used as soon as possible. Step 7 matters for an animal. A can whose label washed off can no longer be matched against a recall, and matching a can against a recall is one of the checks on the list below.

A hygiene step that is ours, not FDA’s. Every can went through the water described above, and FDA’s steps carry no instruction for the person doing the washing. Wear waterproof gloves if you have them, keep your hands away from your face while you brush and wash, and wash your hands with soap and safe water after each batch and before you touch any animal or other food.

Two bleach strengths, and why not to convert

FDA publishes this guidance in two formats, and the sanitizing solution differs between them:

• FDA’s web page (content current as of 03/05/2024): 1 cup (8 oz/250 mL) of unscented household bleach at 5.25% concentration mixed with 5 gallons of water, soaked for 15 minutes.
• FDA’s printable version (dated January 2023): a freshly made solution of 1 tablespoon of unscented liquid chlorine bleach per gallon of drinking water, or the cleanest, clearest water available, for 15 minutes.

USDA FSIS’s fact sheet “Keeping Food Safe During an Emergency” (last updated Jul 30, 2013) gives the tablespoon version. CDC’s can-sanitizing page gives the cup version: one cup of bleach and five gallons of water.

These are different strengths, published by three federal agencies in four documents. Do not convert between them. Open the page you intend to follow, read the ratio off that page, and mix it as written. Only the FDA web page names the concentration it assumes (5.25%), so compare the concentration printed on your own bottle with the page you follow.

What the procedure does not cover

It covers commercially prepared food in undamaged all-metal cans and undamaged commercial retort pouches, and nothing else. It does not cover a bag, a cardboard carton or treat box, or a plastic bin you decanted kibble into (a snap lid is named as not waterproof). It does not cover a home-portioned bag in the freezer. Every step is performed on the outside of a sealed container that water never got into. No step involves rinsing the food itself.

If you store kibble in a bin, FDA’s veterinary center advises putting the entire bag into the container rather than pouring the kibble in. Its reason is that the lot number and best-by date stay with the food for a recall. That habit also leaves a second layer of packaging between water and food, which is our observation, not FDA’s stated reason.

Mold, mycotoxins, and why looking fine is not a finding

FDA’s veterinary center says mycotoxins are toxic products of certain molds that can grow on agricultural commodities in the field and in storage. It also says: “Mycotoxins are difficult to eliminate because they are not destroyed by most of the processes used in animal food production.” No source cited here describes spreading a wet bag on a tarp, running a fan on it, sunning, baking or boiling it as a way to remove mycotoxins. A factory process is a higher bar than a driveway, and the toxins survive most of those.

Looking is not a test either. FDA’s alert on aflatoxin in pet food describes aflatoxin as a toxin produced by the mold Aspergillus flavus, which can grow on corn and other grains used in pet food, and says that at high levels it can cause illness and death in pets. It also says: “The toxin can be present even if there is no visible mold.”

Two more points from that alert explain why the stakes differ for animals:

• Pets are highly susceptible because, unlike people, they generally eat the same food continuously for long periods, so the toxin could accumulate in the pet’s system.
• FDA says: “In some cases, pets may suffer liver damage but not show any symptoms.” That is why an animal eating it and seeming fine is not evidence.

The number, and what it is and is not

FDA’s Compliance Policy Guide Sec. 683.100 (last revised 3/12/19) sets an action level of 20 ppb of total aflatoxins for pets (dogs, cats, rabbits, etc.) of all ages, covering corn, peanut products, cottonseed meal, other ingredients and complete pet food. As of September 29, 2026, FDA’s revision history listed no later revision to 683.100. About that number:

• It is guidance for FDA staff, not a home threshold, and the document says guidance documents do not establish legally enforceable responsibilities.
• It is not a bright line even for FDA. Enforcement can be warranted below an action level and unwarranted above it.
• It is measured in a laboratory, using official analytical methods. There is no home test and no smell test.
• The guide records that aflatoxin contamination of dog and cat food caused illness, dog deaths and extensive recalls in 1998, 2005, 2011 and 2013.

FDA’s FY 2021 sampling report tested 200 retail samples of kibbled dog and cat food containing corn or corn by-products (127 dog foods, 73 cat foods, across 36 states and Puerto Rico). Aflatoxins were detected in five dog foods, at 0.50 to 6.52 ppb, and three cat foods, at 0.70 to 2.02 ppb. All were below 20 ppb. The report says it was issued in response to 2020 and 2021 incidents that led to hundreds of illnesses and deaths in pets, some at levels of more than 500 ppb.

So the retail kibble FDA sampled in 2021 was mostly clean, and the events that killed animals were not routine. A flooded or heat-soaked bag in your garage is not routine retail kibble, and no laboratory has looked at yours.

What FDA means by salvaging animal food

FDA’s Q&A on crops harvested from flooded fields (content current as of 08/19/2024) says such crops can be used for animal food in certain circumstances, but usually are unacceptable because of contamination. It says they should at minimum be tested for mold, bacteria, chemicals and heavy metals. Requests to recondition go to an FDA field office case by case, and state agriculture departments may have their own requirements. That page is written for producers, not households, but it shows the route salvage takes: a laboratory, a field office and a state agency. None of that is available in a wet garage, which is why the household answer is a discard.

After an outage: three foods, three rules

Unopened dry kibble and unopened cans

FDA’s veterinary center says to store dry pet food and unopened canned food in a cool and dry place, under 80 F, and that excess heat or moisture may cause nutrients to break down. That is a storage instruction, not a failure threshold. FDA publishes no temperature or duration at which stored kibble becomes unsafe. FDA’s veterinary center does say mycotoxin formation is influenced by temperature, humidity and rainfall during growing, harvesting and storage. So a bag that spent days in a hot, humid, powerless house deserves caution. Ask your veterinarian and the manufacturer named on the bag, who can ask about that product.

For a bag or can that was already damaged, FDA’s buying advice is to avoid packaging with dents, tears or discolorations. That is written about the shop, and we apply it to your shelf.

Opened cans, pouches and fresh refrigerated food

FDA’s veterinary center gives a pet-specific instruction: “Promptly refrigerate or throw out unused or leftover canned and pouched pet food.” It adds: “Set your refrigerator to 40 F or below.” CDC says fresh pet foods use fewer or no preservatives, need refrigeration and do not keep as long as kibble or canned food.

Neither agency publishes an hours-without-power figure for pet food. The figures people reach for are human-food rules:

• USDA FSIS (last updated Jul 30, 2013): refrigerated food should be safe as long as power is out no more than 4 hours, and perishable food above 40 °F for 2 hours should be discarded. An unopened refrigerator keeps food safely cold about 4 hours. A full freezer holds its temperature about 48 hours if the door stays closed, 24 hours if half full.
• FDA’s flood and outage page (03/05/2024): discard refrigerated perishable food that has been above 40°F for 4 hours or more.

The two agencies use different discard clocks, and neither page lists animal food in its save-or-discard tables. FSIS mentions pet food only as a stocking item. So use the appliance thermometer both agencies tell you to keep in the refrigerator and freezer, or a food thermometer on the food, and decide on a temperature you read. Do not decide on an elapsed-time number no agency has published for pet food. If the reading is ambiguous, FSIS says never to taste food to test its safety.

Frozen raw, and the people in the house

The refreeze rule people quote is real and it is for human food. FSIS says food that still has ice crystals or is 40 °F or below is safe to refreeze, and that a freezer thermometer reading of 40 °F or below means the food may be refrozen. FDA adds: “You can’t rely on appearance or odor.”

We do not offer those sentences as a pet food rule, because raw pet food carries a second exposure and both CDC and FDA have published positions on it:

• CDC does not recommend feeding raw pet food or treats to dogs and cats.
• CDC says: “Raw pet food can also make you and your family sick when these germs spread around your kitchen and home.”
• CDC says: “Freeze-drying, dehydrating, or freezing raw protein from animals only reduces the amount of germs.” These processes do not kill all germs on the food.
• FDA’s veterinary center says raw pet food poses significant health risks to pets and owners, because it is more likely than processed food to contain bacteria such as Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes. Its raw pet food page reports that in FDA’s two-year study, 15 of 196 raw pet food samples were positive for Salmonella and 32 for L. monocytogenes.

If you feed raw and have a freezer that went warm, apply CDC’s handling instructions: wash your hands with soap and water before and after handling raw pet food, and clean items and surfaces that touched it. Thaw frozen raw pet food in the refrigerator, and keep it sealed and separate from other foods. CDC says: “Throw away leftovers that have been out at room temperature.” Whether a specific thawed product can be refrozen belongs to your veterinarian and the manufacturer printed on the package, not to a rule written for supermarket steak.

Recalls

As of September 29, 2026, FDA’s veterinary Recalls & Withdrawals table and its Center for Veterinary Medicine advisory index both listed 2026 pet food entries, including recalls for possible Salmonella and Listeria contamination. Entries change, so check both pages yourself before feeding anything you set aside. You need the product name, lot number and best-by date.

What no published source covers

No federal source we cite gives a consumer procedure for deciding whether a specific flood-exposed or heat-exposed pet food can be salvaged. What exists is narrower. FDA’s veterinary center publishes storage and handling pages (temperatures, refrigeration, original packaging, lot numbers, how to report a problem). FDA and CDC publish positions on raw pet food, FDA sets a pet-specific aflatoxin action level, and FDA runs a live recall table and advisory index. CDC’s pet emergency page, AVMA’s pets and disasters page and Ready.gov’s pets page cover preparing and recovering.

If your state publishes a procedure, follow it over this page. Your state department of agriculture, where the pet food program usually sits, and your state or county health department can tell you whether they have one.

The triage checklist

Work it in this order. Packaging comes first because it disqualifies the most food fastest.

• Separate anything floodwater may have touched from everything else, before you sort. FDA’s standard is “if there is any chance that it has come into contact with flood water.”
• Discard every bag, cardboard box, treat carton, decanted bin, screw-top tub, snap-lid container and home-portioned pack from the floodwater pile. FDA and CDC name these as not waterproof or impossible to clean. The rule is written for human food and we apply it to pet food.
• Discard every damaged can from that pile, using FDA’s definition above.
• For undamaged all-metal cans and retort pouches, follow the published procedure in full, with the ratio and contact time copied from the page you are reading. Air dry for the minimum time, re-label with the expiration date, and use the food soon.
• Do not rinse, dry, sun, bake, boil, sieve or repackage the food itself. FDA’s veterinary center says mycotoxins are not destroyed by most animal food production processes.
• Do not use appearance, smell or a small test feeding as evidence. Aflatoxin can be present without visible mold, and a pet can have liver damage without symptoms. Do not feed a questionable food to one animal to see how it goes, and do not hand it to a hardier one.
• For the outage pile, read a thermometer, not a clock. The four-hour and ice-crystal rules are FSIS and FDA human-food rules.
• Treat opened wet food, pouched food and fresh refrigerated food as the first casualties of a warm refrigerator.
• Handle any raw or thawed raw product as a household exposure. Wash hands and every surface it touched, keep it sealed and separate, and put the refreeze-or-discard question to your veterinarian and the manufacturer.
• Protect yourself while salvaging cans. Gloves if you have them, hands away from your face, and a soap-and-safe-water hand wash after each batch and before touching any animal or other food.
• Before you feed anything you set aside, check FDA’s recall table and advisory index.
• Write down what you fed each animal, and when. FDA’s aflatoxin alert says to give your veterinarian a full diet history, and it suggests photographing the label, including the lot number.
• If an animal has eaten flood-exposed or doubtful food, call your veterinarian rather than waiting for signs.

If your animal already ate it

Call your veterinarian and lead with the diet history, not the symptom. FDA’s aflatoxin alert asks owners to bring one, including a photo of the label with the lot number. That is the fastest way to give a clinician something concrete to work with.

Then report it. FDA encourages owners to report complaints about a pet food or treat to both FDA and the manufacturer. Lot numbers matter here: FDA’s storage page says fewer than half of the pet food complaints it receives include one, and that the lot number helps FDA identify when and where the food was made.

FDA publishes a list of signs associated with aflatoxin poisoning in pets. It also says pets can have liver damage with no signs at all, so a symptom list is not a screening tool. The decision belongs to your veterinarian. If the bill is the obstacle, post-disaster veterinary bill options covers what exists.

Before anything happens

Three free habits decide how much of this page you will ever need.

Store it high, and store it sealed. FDA’s preparedness list says: “Store food on shelves that will be safely out of the way of contaminated water in case of flooding.” Ready.gov’s pet kit list adds: “Keep several days’ supply of food in an airtight, waterproof container.” A sealed bin makes it less likely that water reaches the food. It does not turn a bag into one of the containers FDA’s flood rule calls waterproof, since that definition names commercially prepared all-metal cans and retort pouches and lists snap lids as not waterproof. Height keeps the question from arising. The container is a second line, not a license to salvage.

Keep the original bag with the food. FDA’s veterinary center says: “Store pet food and treats in the original container or bag.” It keeps the UPC code, lot number, product name, manufacturer and best-by date available for a defect or recall. Put the bag inside the bin instead of pouring kibble into it.

Put a thermometer in the refrigerator and one in the freezer now. FSIS and FDA both build their post-outage decision around a reading you can only get if the thermometer was in there first. FDA’s preparedness list says: “Make sure you have appliance thermometers in your refrigerator and freezer.” Without one, every rule above falls back to guessing from elapsed time.

The kit rotation checklist keeps this current. The shelter-in-place food and water standard and the storage math for how much to keep size the supply.

Where to go next

This page is the post-event food-triage spoke of our pet evacuation kits hub.

• The rest of coming home. Returning home with pets after a disaster covers the walkthrough, hazards and re-entry sequence. What a flood does to a pet household covers the event itself.
• Water, which follows different rules. Water purification for pets covers treatment and contact times. For the timing question, see how long a dog can go without water and how long a cat can go without food or water. CDC’s instruction for the animal: “Don’t allow pets to play in or drink contaminated water.”
• The outage itself. Pets and power outages is the hazard hub. Pet medication and refrigeration during an outage covers the cold chain for drugs, and automatic feeders and fountains during an outage covers the equipment that stops working.

Do one thing today. Look at where your animal’s food is stored. If it is a bag on the floor, get it off the floor and into a sealed container with the original bag inside, and put an appliance thermometer in the refrigerator and the freezer. Neither makes flooded food salvageable. Both make it far more likely the question never reaches you.