I know there are a lot of super freaky obsessive complusive germ-o-phobes on here, so I thought I'd pass this along... http://blogs.chron.com/sciguy/archives/2007/05/the_coolest_fiv.html Admit it, you know the five-second rule. It comes into play when you've dropped food on the floor, but aren't quite ready to part with the possibility of still consuming it. My wife believes in the zero-second rule, but I'm a firm-believer in the old wives' tale. Now, it would seem, there's some science to back up the five-second rule. A pair of biology majors at Connecticut College have gone and tested the rule, and there's good news. It should now be called the thirty-second rule: Goettsche and Moin took their food samples -- apple slices (wet) and Skittles candies (dry) -- to the main Connecticut College dining hall, Harris Refectory, and to the snack bar in the student center. They dropped the foods onto the floors in both locations for five, 10, 30 and 60 second intervals, and also tested them after allowing five minutes to elapse. They then swabbed the foods and placed them onto agar plates designed to cultivate any bacteria that might have attached to the foods. What Goettsche and Moin discovered may forever change the way people think of the five-second rule. "It should probably be renamed," Goettsche said. "You actually have a little more time." The women found no bacteria were present on the foods that had remained on the floor for five, 10 or 30 seconds. The apple slices did pick up bacteria after one minute, however, and the Skittles showed a bacterial presence after remaining on the floor for five minutes. The results prove, Goettsche and Moin said, that you can wait at least 30 seconds to pick up wet foods and more than a minute to pick up dry foods before they become contaminated with bacteria. Previous research claimed to have debunked the five-second rule. But their methods were questionable. The researchers dropped food on tiles that were purposefully contaminated with E. coli bacteria. Let me tell you, if you have E. coli bacteria on your kitchen floor you've got bigger problems than the five-second rule. My advice? If you keep your home reasonably clean the five-second rule is reasonably valid.
If I drop anything wet on the floor (sauced, buttered, sticky, etc) im not eating it.. dirt and dust dont always have bacteria, but it sure as hell doesn't taste good.
I thought about the fact that cat hair isn't easily extricated from mayonaise when the top of my sandwich hits the deck face down, but, hey, I can rinse off a piece of deli meat!
http://www.snopes.com/food/tainted/dropped.asp plus who the hell believes this stuff anyway? it's got the same stuff when it drops to the floor at 2 seconds than it does at 40 seconds lol.
I'm down with that...We use that with my kids...Now, it depends on the place it lands...If it dirt or dirty, no way...
Actually, read the study. This is not some fake email I got. This is based on a study done by biology majors at Connecticut College and debunks a previous study that showed the opposite.
If I drop my food, I immediately rub germ-x all over it and quicky pop it in my mouth. Throw it away? Think of all the starving people out there!!!
The germ-x might be worse for you than the floor. I'm with rrj_gamz, it depends on where it lands but in general I'm not too worried about most American floors. I've eaten in places in the third world where even the table and dishes were probably less clean than most US floors.
Exactly, unless it is some kind of mushy stuff like apple sauce or something, I will eat it, save the food for the world I was taught!
I got the yellow fever and one other more deadly one (I forgot the name) when I was younger in a 3rd world country... and the Doctor said that it was due to eating from the dirty dishes and such that I used to eat from when I buy food. Off subject.. I thought yellow fever was from mosquitos. That was the worst sickness I've ever gone through in my life!
Perhaps. The one I'd read/saw on tv was the one from mythbusters. Still a little hard to believe I guess that the five second rule is a valid one.
I've always thought the 5 second rule was too short. By the time I figure out my food was on the floor, I say "aww Shhhhh**t" and I stare at it for a bit all sad.. by then it would have been at least 10 seconds
don't trust undergrads. actually just kidding, but it only tests for bacteria, there are plenty of other substances that can more easily get on the food especially if it is wet I'd imagine
If it doesn't have any big chunks of stuff on it, I say chomp it down. Even if it is loaded with bacteria, it will help you build up your immune system...
