We’ve all dropped that freshly buttered piece of golden brown toast on the floor, yes? And many of us have contemplated whether or not to just pick it up and eat it. That’s why there’s the 5-Second Rule, the completely unscientific belief that food left on the floor for less than five seconds is sufficiently ick-free. But scientists at Clemson are trying to call BS on one of western society’s core beliefs.
Says Paul Dawson, a food scientist at the food science and human nutrition department at Clemson University, where he and his team of students tested the Rule:
In the case of the five-second-rule we found that bacteria was transferred from tabletops and floors to the food within five seconds, that is the five second rule is not an accurate guide when it comes to eating food that has fallen on the floor.
But can science change your mind on this?
That’s why we’re conducting this incredibly unscientific poll:
Sadly, the ‘five-second rule’ is not really safe [Houston Chronicle]
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I didn’t think anyone actually thought the 5 second rule meant anything, it’s just a way of recovering lost food!
The Mythbusters did this and found that if the food was wet (i.e. a piece of salami), it seemed to collect more gunk and germs than a dry piece (a cracker). So if I butter a cracker and it falls on the floor, no, I won’t eat it. If I drop the cracker alone and my floor isn’t all that grotty, I’ll blow it off and eat it.
I’m still alive! Although eating buttered crackers will probably kill me eventually anyway.
Yes–if it was a Baby Ruth candy bar accidentally dropped into a crowded swimming pool, causing a mass exodus a la Jaws, and only after draining the pool, dressed in full hazmat attire and only if the water was chlorinated.
+1 Caddyshack ref!
5 second rule and all other food drop rules only apply to non sticky / non wet foods.
I follow the “wet/dry” rule. If it’s a dry product, I might brush it off if the floor was clean. If it’s a food with any degree of moisture, I toss it, no question.
Dry toast, yes. Buttered toast, no.
Unless it’s visibly dirty, the only reason I throw away dry food that fell on the floor is out of a sense of decorum if other people are around. “Five second rule!” is just an excuse to your buddies for eating that M&M you dropped.
Bacteria are transfered quickly, but who cares? There are bacteria all over my skin all the time, and floating in the air, and on every non-floor surface I touch. Are there dangerous bacteria on the average floor, in numbers sufficient to make me sick? No! So I see no reason I should worry.
My floor? It boosts my immune system.
Someone else’s floor? Eat at your own risk.
I reject the entire premise of the article: if something has detectable levels of bacteria on it, it’s not “safe” to eat. I like the give my immune system some real work to do to distract it from attacking me.
If a dropped food is dry I’ll eat it. If it’s wet and can be rinsed, I’ll rinse and eat it. If it’s wet and can’t be rinsed, I throw it out. Hell, I’ll even eat food that I drop in the (bag-lined) trash can, depending on what else is already in there. If it’s just fresh vegetable peelings and plastic packaging, we’re good to go!
I may eat dropped food, but not because of the so-called “5 second rule.” I may do it because my immune system is up to the task. Making everything sanitary and bacteria-free is hurting us, not helping us.
I’ll make this simple: Do you think bacteria could transfer to your tongue in 5 seconds if you licked the floor?
Yes?
Then it can get on food.
An Ig Nobel prize was awarded in 2004 for 5-second rule research.
http://tech.mit.edu/V124/N41/41_ignobels.41n.html
National Geographic Mag – May issue had a short feature on the 5-second rule (or 3 sec). They interviewed an epidemiologist about this and he debunked the rule – it’s really about 0 seconds.
This question was answered in great detail via testing on “MYTHBUSTERS.”
ALL tests showed IMMEDIATE bacterial, etc., attachment.
Can result in illnesses in the future, not just in next couple of days.
Sure changed the way our family members think.
Depends on what I drop and what the condition of the floor is. A wet thing on my nasty ass floor? Stright in the garbage. Something dry on a reasonably reciently mopped floor. That’s safe.
It’s not a BELIEF! It’s a JOKE! There is a DIFFERENCE! In my mind it has always been sarcastic, you joke the food is clean because of the short duration of contact with the floor. But if you eat it, you do so out of indifference to the dirt you know the food picked up.
You guys are gonna be screwed when the apocalypse comes. As a society, we’ve all become so delicate and pampered. Our ancestors ate food a lot less sanitary than we have now and had stronger immune systems. There are also many places in the world where people eat much less food that is much less sanitary than we do. If someone from Somalia saw you throw away a cracker that fell on the floor, they would think you were a moron. Will you ingest a few extra germs or microbes? Of course. But under most circumstances (ok, not restaurant floors), especially in your own home, the ethics of not wasting food outweigh the mostly imagined ick factor.
Is your avatar a Steve Austin doll?
That 5 second rule might as well be the 30 minute rule where if someone doesn’t step on it after it falls then it might be eatable.
My little girls follow the 5 day rule, or just eat it if it looks good
The survey should differentiate between food dropped at different locations.
If I drop it at home and it’s not something sticky, then sure, I’ll eat it. It’s all my germs anyways. If I drop it in the breakroom at work or in a public restaurant, no way. If I drop it on the floor of my cubicle/office at work, yeah I’ll eat it.
Only if it is something I can wash off, like a piece of fruit, will I eat something that’s hit the floor.
There was also a previous study done at the University of Illinois in 2003, here’s a good rundown: http://www.aces.uiuc.edu/news/stories/news2467.html
I’m healthy as a horse. I throw all my food on the floor and eat it directly from the linoleum.
My uncle dropped the Thanksgiving pie once. Landed with the top on the ground. We scraped off the top layer and ate it anyway. Like we were going to skip pie?
I do it, depending on the food. I mean really if it is a dry food and there is no dirt, sure I’ll go for it. If it is like pudding or something wet then nah it’ll be trash. If it is like a candy bar where just part of it got a little dirty I’ll break it off and eat the rest. I mean it is candy.
It really depends on the food and the floor, but I’ve been known to eat the occasional dropped snack without any adverse effects.
You’ve got it all wrong: it is x seconds before you have to *eat* it (x seconds determined by how long it takes for the pathogen mass to grow to a critical mass, assuming we are not looking at the case of accidently injesting a pile of arsenic left on the floor, like so much candy sprinkle, in which case time, again, would not matter…assuming we are not talking about soaking up a puddle of mercury). How long it remains on the floor is immaterial, right? The pathogen transfer rate would follow a declining exponential, wouldn’t it? Likewise the area of surface that the foodstuff is exposed to would be as least as great a determinant than total time spent on the surface, wouldn’t it? So did it bounce, slide, or did you pick it up with a swirl? And lastly, there does seem to be emerging evidence that avoiding all possible pathogens in any quantity is not ‘safe’ in the long-term, isn’t there? So isn’t both the premise and the rule of thumb, as applied, in doubt?
The ground has lots of dirt… but look through some of those studies – they invariably find less germs/bacteria/spores on the floor than on counters, hands, doorknobs, TV remotes, etc. I don’t know that I’d encourage eating dropped food, but if you ever drink from a water fountain, ride in an airplane, eat off a picnic table, or even use many restaurant utensils, you’ve exposed yourself to far worse (and are still probably fine).
My food already has bacteria on it, and my floor’s usually pretty clean. What’s the problem?
For me, the 5-second rule is not based on science – it’s based on how icky I think it would be to pick up food that fell on the floor and eat it. Meaning if a piece of food has been on the ground for an hour, that’s pretty gross. If it’s 10 seconds, then it’s not as icky.
It depends a lot on the food (if it’s wet then it’s more likely to attract dirt/dust/hair), if you can wash it, and the floor. If it falls on concrete outside, I’m just tossing it. If it’s on my laminate (fake hardwood floors), then I will probably pick it up and eat it. Also, if it’s one french fry out of a tray, then I’m less likely to eat it. If it’s my sandwich, you can bet I’ll try to salvage it.
“we found that bacteria was transferred” is a little generic… what kinds of bacteria, and in what amounts? There are many harmless bacteria out there, and in small amounts many others will be harmless.
If it isn’t something that would easily pick up bacteria, you pick up the item, hold it in your hand and say “Gad made dirt, dirt don’t hurt. Amen.”
I follow the “How dirty is the surface and how hungry or poor am I right now?” rule.
The only foods that you can use the five second rule on are raw fruits and vegetables. They have a washable/removable skin and they’ve already been around dirt and bugs, so the floor wouldn’t make it any worse.
Hell, if anything in the kitchen hits the floor, I won’t use it. Utensils get a rinse then washed, dishcloths go in the laundry, and a paper towel roll heads to the cleaning closet.
There’s bacteria floating around in the fucking air too. The thing these tests never point out is that the presence of bacteria does NOT equal the presence of HARMFUL bacteria. Drop something on the floor, it gets bacteria on it. That does not mean you are going to contract an awful disease and die. Like they say, God made dirt and dirt don’t hurt. If I drop something on the floor and don’t eat it it’s because it got gunk/dirt/goo on it, not because I’m worried about “bacteria.”
This is too vague. I will use the rule on hard, dry, non-porous things. A just-dropped M&M is fine, particularly if I catch it on the first bounce. Using the 5 second rule on buttered bread that landed butter-side-down (which it always does) is like eating a used mop.
One of my students did a science fair project on this. He found if the item is moist in anyway then forget it, but dry items didn’t pick up anything. Ex if your buttered toast lands butterside down, trash it. But if it is dry toast hitting dry ground, you should be fine.
Should the type of food also be tested? I mean I would think a slice of ham would pick up more germs that a dry M&M.
IIRC, I read that a student had done their thesis on the similar 10-second rule. He found that if there was anything on the floor to transfer to the food, it happend pretty much right away. No matter how quickly the item was picked up.
I’m making a road trip this fall to watch my University of Miami Hurricanes play at Clemson. Now I have two reasons to root for an asskicking.
Mmm… Bacteria. I knew it tasted better after I dusted it off.
Mythbusters covered this one pretty well on their show. No I will not ruin the episode by telling you their result. It’s a good one though.
I follow the 5 second rule, but never actually believed that the food wouldn’t get germs. I just don’t care if it gets germs. I am not a germ freak and appreciate that it builds my immune system. Nomnomnom.
I just have to say, my 7 year-old asked me the other day if the 5 second rule applied in parking lots. I raised her well.