Debunking the five-second dropped food rule

[Mycroft]

I would have thought that on a dry surface that any contamination (bacterial or chemical) would occur on impact and not worsen in the short term (of course in the long term there is chance of bacterial growth or insect infestation).

[snopes]

The controversial “five-second rule” — the one that lets us eat dropped food if it’s quickly scooped off the floor — is a bunch of boloney, according to Clemson University food scientist Paul Dawson, who stirs up the long-debated issue in National Geographic.

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune....food-rule.html

This part was what I found most disturbing:

The five-second rule is alive and well at Illinois same-day surgery centers, according to Associated Press Medical Writer Carla K. Johnson. "Medical staff were observed picking up items that had fallen to the floor and behaving as if they weren't contaminated by germs, according to state inspection reports."

[Sooeygun]

I've seen and read about the 5 second rule being debunked so many times. But does anyone actually believe it's a real rule anyway?? To me it's always been just a saying, a joke.

Ha, ha, I know I shouldn't eat food from the floor, but 5 second rule, ha, ha.

I don't know anyone that actually thinks it's a 'rule'. That up to 5 seconds your safe and after you're not.

[Lainie]

That's exactly my thought every time this comes up.

[Dr. Dave]

Originally Posted by Sooeygun

Ha, ha, I know I shouldn't eat food from the floor, but 5 second rule, ha, ha.

Exactly. That's what I think whenever this comes up also. It's like "the broken cookies have no calories."

Anyway, I would not use the "rule" on a patient or another person (maybe my own kid). And that surgery center

[Penny]

I hate it when people try to debunk the five- (three-) second rule, because it shows they have missed the point of it.

It never was a scientific rule. It is a shared social pretence, that enables people to do what they would do anyway without "losing face".

[Eddylizard]

I thought the rule was check to see if any of your guests noticed. If not, brush or wash off the fluff and grit and be extra vigilant to put that portion on someone elses plate.

[Nick Theodorakis]

Next study: researchers determine that stepping on a crack does not actually break your mother's back.

Nick

[Eddylizard]

My mother (not the most dextrous person on the planet what with advancing age) caught the welt of her shoe on a crack yesterday when she stepped on it as it happens, and fell over smack on the hard granite surface with a loud yelp of pain. She was dazed for a bit, sore for a longer length of time, and it did take a while for two of us to get her upright and for her to recover. She did not break her back - but it could have been a possible outcome.

[snopes]

The "five-second rule" goes something like this: Food dropped on the ground is perfectly sanitary and safe to eat -- as long as it's picked back up within five seconds. But is there any truth to the saying?

http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2...cond-rule-real

[Seaboe Muffinchucker]

Check out today's (11-22-11) Bizarro cartoon. You may have to search a little if you look for this on a day other than 11-22.

Seaboe

[Alarm]

Originally Posted by Seaboe Muffinchucker

Check out today's (11-22-11) Bizarro cartoon. You may have to search a little if you look for this on a day other than 11-22.

Seaboe

That will totally help to prevent world hunger!

[Psihala]

Didn't a high school student "win" an Ignoble award some years back for debunking this very thing some years ago?

~Psihala
(*For the record, I hated the whole idea of the creators of the award bestowing their 'generosity' on someone who was simply curious if the rule was true or not and took the time to test it. Doing so sort of defeats the purpose of encouraging scientific curiosity, however humble.)

[Syllavus]

I always interpreted the five second rule as just a tongue-in-cheek way to say, "Yeah I know this fell on the floor and is probably germy or what-not, but I really don't care and I'm going to eat it anyway."

[Dasla]

Originally Posted by Eddylizard

In addition, is food ever completely sterile? Are you hands completely sterile even after a good wash? Your knife? Your chopping board? Even if you've sterilised your implements when you washed them, if any length of time has elapsed until you use them, something will have floated out of the air and landed on them.

Having worked as a clean room technician, no, nothing is ever completly sterile. Even in a clean room, with a filtered air system, with autoclaved equipment and liquids; and then working in a laminar flow hood, you still got contemination. Of couse this is more likely to be due to poor technique as failure of the above equipment.

I remembering a housekeeper at one place I worked saying proudly "No germs in my kitchen!!" I tolded my inner biologist to shutup and said nothing, people are better off not knowning.

And in spite of the fact I have worked as a cleanroom, I am like many in this thread, my kitchen floor is too dirty for me to think about eating anything I dropped on it.

[Dasla]

Originally Posted by Syllavus

I always interpreted the five second rule as just a tongue-in-cheek way to say, "Yeah I know this fell on the floor and is probably germy or what-not, but I really don't care and I'm going to eat it anyway."

I like the cartoon in the Mythbusters episode were five seconds wasn't long enough for the bacteria to jump from were they were (like bouncing balls) to the food.

[Dasla]

Originally Posted by Syllavus

I always interpreted the five second rule as just a tongue-in-cheek way to say, "Yeah I know this fell on the floor and is probably germy or what-not, but I really don't care and I'm going to eat it anyway."

and to all the others that have said basically said the same thing. While not this rule specifically there have been other rules like this that I have thought that everyone knew was a joke and didn't really believe it, and then you meet someone who does sincerly does beleive it.

No I don't have an actual occurance to site but give me a few days to get my certifably poor memory to come with one.

[fpc89099]

When I was growing up, we called it the "3 second rule." I was actually really surprised when I was a teenager and heard someone call it "5 seconds" and others call it "10 seconds." Just how long are people letting food sit on the floor? Even as a youngster, I thought 3 seconds was too long.

[snopes]

It is a common dilemma for parents at mealtimes. If your child drops some food on the floor, should you ever pick it up and give it back to them?

Many parents invoke the "five-second rule" when deciding what to do: the perception that, if the food has only been on the ground for a matter of seconds, then it is unlikely to have been badly contaminated with germs.

But is there any scientific basis to that idea - or is it just one of those parenting myths?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21945313