Is there any veracity in the "five second rule" of food staying bacteria-free when fumbled to the floor?

Question

I wouldn't use it anyway because, well....YUCK, right?

Answer 1

me,

Actually, it depends on what you drop the food on.

If you are familiar with the Ignobel Prizes, a kind of parody of the Nobel Prize in which real scientists do research that doesn't matter, like the action of slugs in beer, whether we get more wet running or walking through the rain, that sort of thing, you may know that this was the subject of one of their prizes.

It turned out that if the food was dropped on a bare,dry floor, the five-second rule worked because bacteria need moisture to live and grow, and a dry floor normally doesn't have enough moisture on it to support bacteria.

If you drop the food on a rug, however, then the five-second rule does not work. Dogs don't seem to care, however.

So if you drop a cookie or a piece of cheese, say, on vinyl flooring, it is bacterially safe, since it will have picked up fewer bacteria from the floor than it did from your hand.

A rug, however, is not a nice place.

It's nice to now that science has the resources to answer these most vexing of questions.

Not that I would recommend eating off a vinyl floor, but aren't you glad to know that you could if you wanted to?

Answer 2

No, there is not. A studie was done on this, and there is none at all. once it hit's the floor it is contamanated no matter if it's .5 seconds, 5 seconds, or 50 seconds all were the same.


The study was done for a T.V. show Mythbusters.

Answer 3

The Mythbusters tested this one. They discovered, not surprisingly, that moist foods (like meat) picked up more bacteria from the floor than dry foods (like crackers). However, the length of time on the floor was irrelevant.

Answer 4

Hitting the floor is like hitting the toilet bowl BEFORE it has been flushed. Wolud you eat if it was in there for 2 seconds?

Answer 5

If something drops on the floor it doesn't matter if it is there one second or five, it still has germs, bacteria... whatever on it.

It is gross, I agree!!

Answer 6

Once anything touches another surface, it is INSTANTLY contaminated with whatever germs/bacteria, etc. was on the other surface! There is no truth whatsoever is this fable.

Answer 7

I own a restaurant and we say 'the 3 second rule'. If you can pick it up before 3 seconds, you can eat it, but not serve it to customers, or it goes to my dogs.

Answer 8

the mythbusters actually tested this one and if it drops, it drops.
the bacteria and nasty stuff is there whether it stays there for one second, five seconds, or longer.

Answer 9

It's not true at all. It's just a convenience people use sometimes. You can read this article for further information:

http://www.snopes.com/food/tainted/dropped.asp

Answer 10

That only applies to Marine Corp