By Gabe Bullard, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – St. Louis County health officials are reporting few cases of food poisoning related to power outages, though they keep advising people who lost power to throw out food that might have spoiled.
County Health Department Director Dolores Gunn says several hundred tons of spoiled foods have been collected.
Gunn also says her department will continue to ensure low income families receive food subsidy assistance: "Those populations who have received WIC coupons for things like milk and cheese who may have lost their food products due to the storm, we're actually going to reissue those coupons to those vulnerable families."
Those eligible have until August 18th to request replacement benefits.
Gunn also says officials are on the lookout for long term health effects, including intestinal disease caused by eating spoiled food.
"One thing we're concerned about and we're looking for is people who may have eaten something improperly and showed up at the emergency room with GI problems or diarrhea. Thus far, we haven't seen a large surgance of that occurring and we're very happy."