Food Safety: How Cold Is Cold Enough?

Keeping a thermometer on your refrigerator shelf and another one in your freezer can help you avoid a food poisoning incident due to a malfunctioning unit or in case of a power outage.  Meat, poultry, fish, and dairy products need to be refrigerated at temperatures of 40°F or less and frozen food at or below 0°F to ensure quality and safety.

To measure the temperature in the refrigerator: put the thermometer in a glass of water and place in the middle of the refrigerator.  Wait 5 to 8 hours.  If the temperature is not 38 to 40°F, adjust the refrigerator control.  Check again after 5 to 8 hours.

To measure the temperature in the freezer: place the thermometer between frozen food packages.  Wait 5 to 8 hours.  If the temperature is not 0 to 2°F, adjust the freezer temperature control.  Check again after 5 to 8 hours.

To insure food safety after a power outage: If the refrigerator is still 40°F and the freezer is 0°F or below when the power goes back on, the food is safe.  Refrigerated food should be safe as long as power is out no more than 4 hours.  Keep the door closed as much as possible.  Discard any perishable food (such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and leftovers) that have been above 40°F for 2 hours.

If the appliance thermometer stored in the freezer reads 40°F or below, the food is safe and may be refrozen.  In general, the food is safe to refreeze if it still contains ice crystals.

Douglas Zipes, MD

Medical Update: Dec 2004; 30, 6; Discovery, p. 7

GE National Class Action

Deadlines Have Been Extended

For the benefit of the thousands of people who did not receive notification from General Electric regarding their participation in the Settlement and are just Now finding out about the national GE defective refrigerator problem, we will recap the important facts here.

William F. Turner v. General Electric Company (Case No. 2:05-cv-186-FtM-33DNF) is a national Class Action Lawsuit filed on April 29, 2005 pertaining to 304 defective GE and Hotpoint refrigerator models.  This means that any person living in the United States who ever owned one of these 304 models is a member of the class whether they know it or not.  For example:

• Even if you did not receive Notice From General Electric and were totally unaware of the Class Action Settlement, you are considered a Member of the Class because you are (or were) an owner of one of the defective refrigerators listed in the lawsuit.

• You are affected and bound by the Settlement whether you knew about it or not.

• Once final approval of this lawsuit occurs, all Member of the Class (including YOU!) will have forever released GE of any and all liability.  [Editors' Note:  the suit has been settled, approved, and closed.  All deadlines have passed.]

General Electric quickly agreed to settle the class action lawsuit on December 15, 2005.  (The specific terms of the settlement can be viewed on our Class Action page.)  Beginning on January 13, 2006 General Electric began the Court ordered notification process.  This was to include notification by mail to all known (past and present) owners of the defective refrigerators.  The mailing included a copy of the Proposed Settlement Agreement and claim forms.

In order to participate in the benefits of the Settlement, the deadline for registering claims was strict and swift.  March 14, 2006 was the deadline for objecting to the Settlement or to opt-out of the settlement.  April 13, 2006 was the deadline (it is now September 4, 2006*) for submitting claim forms to register for any of the following benefits:

• reimbursement for previously paid repairs;

• reimbursement to people who had already replaced their defective refrigerators at their own expense;

• registration for a one-year free extended warranty for moisture-related repairs;

• and finally, free replacement of refrigerators that had three or more previous moisture-related repairs and continue to exhibit moisture problems.

Editors' Note:  Although the September 4, 2006 deadline has passed, consumers are reporting to us that it is not being enforced yet.

The Fairness Hearing was scheduled for April 27, 2006.  The purpose of the hearing was to:

• certify the status of the lawsuit as a national class action;

• give a final stamp of approval to the Settlement Agreement;

• confirm General Electric's performance of the Court ordered noti­fi­ca­tion process, and

• pay Plaintiff's lawyers $1,325,000.00 in professional fees.

Thanks to all of the people who took the time to contact us, we became acutely aware of problems rampant in the notification process.  It was obvious that databases General Electric had used for notification were incomplete and intervention was necessary.  The morning of the Fairness Hearing, we filed a plea with the Court, hoping to intervene and delay final approval of the Settlement.  If the Court had approved the Settlement that day, hundreds of thousands of people would have forever lost all their rights to any remedy or restitution from General Electric in any Court of law.

Frankly, the Judge was displeased (to say the least) by the intervention.  She also appeared surprised and confused.  Once we were able to disclose to the Court the database problems and omissions, the tension in the courtroom shifted rather dramatically.  Attorneys (literally) sprang to their feet and seemed to stumble while explaining how such an error had occurred.

As a result, the Court delayed final approval of the Settlement and ordered the deadlines extended for those members of the Class who had not received proper notification.  General Electric also agreed (in open Court) to be "lenient" with deadlines for anyone who did not receive timely notice.  The new deadlines are:

• August 21, 2006:  Fairness Hearing

• September 4, 2006*:  Claims deadline.

Editors' Note:  Although the September 4, 2006 deadline has passed, consumers are reporting to us that it is not being enforced yet.

If you own - or have ever owned - one of the defective models listed in the Settlement, you can contact the General Electric Moisture Settlement office to request claim forms.  If you are currently in need of a repair for a refrigerator included in the Settlement, contact the GE Moisture Settlement Office at: 1-866-839-4463.  [New number: 1-800-694-8477]

If you have any problems, are denied or discouraged by GE in your attempt to file a claim for your defective refrigerator (in any way), please contact us and let us know as soon as possible.  All the links you need are in the column to the left.