When a refrigerator stops working when should you throw out the food?

Any potentially hazardous product that has been above 40°F for 2 hours or more should probably be tossed - milk, meat, fish, poultry, processed vegetables, coleslaw, potato salad, etc. The higher the food temperature has gone, the more dangerous it becomes. That would mean having a thermometer that can measure the temperature of the food itself.

Think of the food in the same way as if you had it out to serve, then had to decide whether or not to keep the leftovers. Most storage guidelines err on the side of safety, and do not consider value.

When the power goes off (or the refrigerator stops working), it should be able to maintain adequate temperature around 4 hours if the door is kept closed.

These two sites are very good and provide more details about what foods should be discarded:

http://www.redcross.org/services/disaster/0,1082,0_564_,00.html

http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/HGIC3760.htm