Is it true that the five second rule is real?

Question

If you don't know what that is it's when you drop food on the ground and then if you pick it up within 5 seconds then it's clean and germ-free.

Answer 1

Of course it's not real. It's just something people say to try and be humorous.

Think about it: if you drop some food on the floor where people walk, any germs or dirt that are on the spot where the food lands are going to IMMEDIATELY transfer to the food. If the food is dry, less will transfer because less will stick, but it will still transfer.
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Answer 2

It's not true. Most of the germs that will get on the food when it's dropped will get on it within those first 5 seconds. And just wiping it off doesn't get rid of the germs. You have to wash it off with running water and friction, or cut off the part that touched the floor.

I would say that it's not the worst thing to eat a few germs to build up your immune system a little, but with drug-resistant bacteria becoming more prevalent, I would try to avoid eating things right off the floor.

Answer 3

Mythbusters tested it. They said it doesn't matter if its dry or wet food it still gets contaminated. somethings within 3 seconds.

I provided a link. If you scroll down about halfway its the second part of the page explaining it all.

Answer 4

THIS WAS A TOPIC ON THE SHOW MYTHBUSTERS.
THEY PROVED THIS WAS A MYTH. ANY FOOD DROPPED WILL PICK UP GERMS.

Answer 5

I received the following info in a legit email. I dont have links or anything, but info appears legit. I never searched it on the net, you Im sure you can take this info and search and find actual documentation.


June 7, 2007

Dropping a piece of food on the floor and then picking it up and dining on it is a germaphobe's nightmare.

Streptococcus. Staphylococcus. E.coli. Oh, my!

But how bad is it?

A college professor and her students are challenging the prevailing wisdom of the so-called five-second rule, which for generations has governed how long little morsels can remain on floors uncontaminated.

The window, the Connecticut team has concluded, really is 30 seconds.

"We wanted to look at a real-world situation," said Anne Bernhard, assistant professor of biology at Connecticut College in New London, noting the difference between her team's work and that of an earlier researcher.

In 2003, Jillian Clarke was a high school intern at the University of Illinois when she confirmed the five-second rule after painstakingly coating floor tiles with E.coli, then dropping gummy bears and cookie pieces onto them.

But as with all findings in science, there was room for challenge.

Most people, Bernhard said, do not smear their floors with E. coli.

And therein lies her "real-world" research. She and her two students, Molly Goettsche and Nicole Moin, chose the college's busy cafeteria as a test area.

Instead of gummy bears and cookie pieces, Bernhard and her students chose apple slices and Skittles.

"The students wanted two different types of food sources: a wet source and one that was a dry food source, to test any differences," Bernhard said.

"You would think that a wet food source would be more likely to attract bacteria very quickly."

Each food item was dropped in triplicate for specific intervals that ranged from 5 seconds to 5 minutes.

"We did this experiment in the main dining area and about 2,000 students traffic through that area," Moin said yesterday.

"So you'd think there would be a multitude of bacteria on the floor."

But in the first set of tests, in which moist apple slices were dropped, the students were stunned to find they had blown the 5-second rule to smithereens.

What they saw after 5 seconds were pristine morsels. It wasn't until the 1-minute interval that they found bacteria developing on the apple slices.

It took 5 minutes for organisms to colonize a Skittle.

The conclusion, Bernhard said, is that instead of a 5-second rule for moist foods that have fallen, the standard should be 30 seconds: As long as you eat a moist food within 30 seconds of its fall, you're very likely to be in a zone of safety.

For dry, less porous foods, she added, you might be safe even if you allow them to stay on the floor for 1 minute.

Each of the foods was picked up after its allotted time on the floor and placed in a petri dish.

Bernhard said the object was to see whether colonies of bacteria grew in the dish within 24 hours.

"I can say only one thing," added Moin, who is going to veterinary school in the fall.

"This is really testimony to the great housekeeping at our school."

Still an open question for any scientist willing to take the challenge is the longstanding "kiss it up to God" rule.

More time than you think

Student researchers put the "five-second" food contamination rule to test with surprising results. Those who spill apple slices or Skittles to the floor may have considerably more time before the food items are contaminated.

Apple Slices

5 seconds No bacteria colonies observed

10 seconds No Colonies

30 seconds No colonies

1 minute Flourishing number of colonies

5 minutes

Skittles

5 seconds No bacteria colonies observed

10 seconds No colonies

30 seconds No colonies

1 minute No colonies

5 minutes Flourishing number of colonies

NOTES: Apple slices were chosen to represents a "wet" food source believed to pick up bacteria more quickly than, say, Skittles. After each time period, food items were placed in Petri dishes and examined in a laboratory.

Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.

Answer 6

I just read recently that is IS true, but only for DRY food. So if you drop gum or a piece of frosted cake then no!

Answer 7

i seriously doubt it...........