Flooding and Canning & Jars

7 years ago

We had record setting floods here 2 weeks apart. Personally we didn't have to deal with floodwaters, but we had ground water pouring into the cellar faster than we could pump it out. It floated and tipped the totes I had empty canning jars stored in and everything got soaked. Some of the canning on the lower shelves was covered by the waters as well.

We're following the guidelines for hard surfaces: washing off the silt and following it with a sanitizing bleach water soak (1/2 c. bleach to 1 gallon water) and then letting them air dry.

Is there anything else I should do? I'm just preparing these jars for storage right now, until I need them, of course.

Also, I think can I treat the jars containing canned goods the same way, as long as they are still properly sealed, correct?

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Comments (4)

Saypoint zone 6 CT
7 years ago
I would throw out any canned goods that were contaminated by water. Why take a chance? The empty jars will be sterilized before you use them again so they will be fine.
rrah
7 years ago
Agree with the above. Any canned food should be tossed out. Sorry as I know that's a lot of work to throw away. I'd run the empty jars through the dishwasher, rinse in sink of bleach and water, and then run through the dishwasher again. If you have an extra long dishwasher cycle or long rinse cycle would use that.
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Olychick
7 years ago
I'd just put them through the dishwasher on the sanitize cycle if you have one. Heated drying. They'll be fine.
digdirt2
7 years ago
Agree about the empty jars - a good wash and a bit of bleach is sufficient. The food filled jars, not so much. Too many nooks and crannies around the jar rim and the lid edge for me to be comfortable with getting it all even if the seal still seems to be intact and ground water is full of all sorts of bacteria etc. I'd dump those jars.

Dave