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Subscribe to RSSThe "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? Nadine Wimmer of KSL, the NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City, decided to investigate.
Wimmer took a bunch of pacifiers and graham crackers -- things mothers and their kids drop all the time -- and placed them on the ground in various places -- in a suburban mom's kitchen and driveway, and under the tables and in the walkways of a local diner. She then took the samples to Richards Laboratories in Pleasant Grove, Utah, where the five-second rule was pretty much debunked.
The kitchen was declared least gross of the four floor spaces, as the crackers dropped on on the kitchen floor showed light to moderate amounts of bacteria, and the pacifiers showed light traces of bacteria, along with yeast and mold. The crackers and pacifiers dropped on the pavement picked up bacteria, plus heavy amounts of mold and yeast. As for the stuff dropped at the diner, the tests showed light amounts of bacteria, yeast and mold on those crackers and pacifiers.
None of the tests found any serious stuff, like salmonella or strep, but "even really common bacteria can make you sick if it catches you in the right condition," says Daniel O'Brien of Richards Laboratories.
"Five seconds, one second -- it's all the same," O'Brien says. "As far as bacteria's concerned, it's all the same."
Hmm. Agree? What's your stance on the five-second rule?
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If I don't see the dirt, its still safe to eat. I let my stomach acid take care of the rest.
You get sneezed on, you get breathed on, the air conditioning filters haven't been changed in years, the pencil you gnaw on fell on the floor how many times? dusting the house causes what to get in the air and into your lungs? That client you just shook hands with, did he wash his hands after using the john? That tissue you took from the box was laying there exposed to the elements for how long? Did they really wash those dishes you had lunch on with hot water or just rinse with a cold spray?
Get the point?
All you have to do is watch Mythbusters.
exposing the immune system to contagions is a good thing as it gives the immune system what to look for and develop immunities. So go throw some dirt on it.
I don't see that the reporter provided any control samples for testing. How does Mr. O'Brien know that an undropped pacifier or cracker didn't have similar contamination? Maybe the contamination came from the reporter's hands or from the container(s) she used to transport them. It wasn't a very effective or accurate test.
Exactly. And how do they know that the pacifiers and crackers wouldn't have exhibited significantly higher levels of contamination if they had been left for longer periods of time? A better test would have included objects at 0, 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, and 30 seconds.
That was my thought exactly! What were the contamination levels of the items before the test? Perhaps they tested that, but it wasn't included in the article.
I used to work in a pharmaceutical starch plant. The bio tech there had us wash our hands with soap for 5 minutes and then air dry - no towels, pants or anything, just air. Even after all that our hands still had bacteria on them.
Point being.....everything is going to have some level of bacteria, or something, in or on them from the get go.
Slanted experiment. If the objects dropped were provably sterile to start with, then you would have something to talk about, otherwise, this is just a puff piece. Agree with JIM....all of this hysterical fanatacism regarding the elimination of germs will ultimately place the human race in bubbles from life to death, since breathing the air outside the sterile cocoon of the delivery room may prove fatal. Rub a little dirt on it, you'll be better in the long run.
Myth Busters tackled this a while back. They debunked the 5 second rule, and used proper controls while doing so.
That being said, germs are good for our immune systems. I do not understand this current craze for making our environments germ-free. You will NOT see a "touch-free soap dispenser" in MY house.
They have done studies and found that "clean freaks" get just as sick, and sometimes more sick, than people that are 'normal' clean. Yes you should wash your hands when appropriate, but dousing in hand cleaner every five minutes is overkill.
Suze....
You are correct in that a little bit of germs is good for us. When we do get hit with alot at once, our body can fight it off fast.
The 5 second rule is just plain dumb. A millisecond or 20 seconds, no difference. The MythBusters even did a show on this - but it's common sense, if it fell on the ground - it's dirty. If you've been out walking in the yard and walk in your house, yep you're contaminating the kitchen floor with what is laying around outside - and we all know what that is.
Mind over matter!
While the piece of food is falling, bacteria will of course see it first and run away. No one wants to get trampled by a piece of food. After the landing, all the bacteria will slowly approach, testing first if it is safe to eat. A council will have a meeting and only after they have given the go signal will everyone proceed to climb the piece of food and eat. All this happens very fast, before 10 seconds are up but never quicker than 5 seconds. This is the basis of the 5-second rule. The 5-second rule is a fact.
The bacteria can have a council meeting and get something done in under 10 seconds?
We should vote bacteria into congress
Better than the parasites we have now!
I always follow the 5 second rule and have never had any issues. I doubt that the bacteria picked could survive the stomach acids.
Not to mention the bacteria in your gut. Without them, we would be dead.
It's amazing how many people don't understand biology and the fact that even after a shower we are covered in bacteria.
Pick it up and eat it, we need to build up our immune systems and never getting dirty opens us up to dieing from something that should have only upset our tummy.
If it touches the floor/ground, it goes in the trash, in my opinion me. Don't know if it's the same thing but, eating vegetables - carrots, radishes, potatoes, peas, etc - right out of the garden after only wiping most of the dirt of on the pants, was a common event as a kid growing up; I'm one of the early Baby Boomers and never have had any major health issues.
So you have a good immune system ... and your kids probably don't.
@Beth-440386 -- You're probably right. IMHO, this is all part of the "politically correct", alias "PC", trend that our society is going through.
If no one saw you who might say that you are gross eating off the floor, then dropped stuff is safe to eat.
Gosh, this was on MythBusters several years ago. But really a little dirt probably never hurt anyone. I wouldn't pick it up and eat it from any public area or even my own driveway, but my kitchen is fair game.
Is the 5 second rule real? Sure. It's a real "rule". It just happens to be false but it's a real "rule". Ask anybody on the playground.
The five second rule is something we in the non-media community call a "joke". Why don't you write an article debunking the story about the three rabbis who walked into a bar?
If it's dry like a cracker or potato chip, it's the 5 second rule. If it's chocolate, it's mine. Period.
The test failed in my opinion because they didn't test the pacifier from the baby's mouth or the ones that touched mom or dads hands. i think most people would be surprised to see how many germs are present in those locations!
computer keyboards and t.v. remotes on average have more bacteria on them then toilet seats!
That's why Comcast and Dell do not take them back. They are considered a bio-hazard!
I went for a walk and inadvertently stepped in some dog doo. I walked about an hour more, then home and into my house, after cleaning off my shoes. In Hawaii you take off your shoes before entering a house normally, but our house is being remodeled as we speak, so we leave our shoes on all the time. So during the day people walk over all manner of dirty substances, then track them into their houses. If any food or such hits the floor in our house it goes into the trash, immediately, no exceptions!
5 seconds? When I grew up we used a 5 minute rule, as long as the dogs didn't beat you to it.
Has anyone tested the 5 second rule with a plate? I mean, unless food goes straight from source to mouth, it's always in contact with something, isn't it? People are paranoid, I swear. But I can't help it if everyone is watching me and I'm going to die unless everything is absolutely sterile!
If everything you ate was sterile you would be dead!
As someone's catchphrase often said: If it looks good, eat it. Take some risk, live a little life and let the chips fall where they may. If you dont want it dont pick it up, if you feel like it, then so be it. Who gives a care.
I don't like picking up and eating food that's fallen to the floor. I have no reason to doubt the research that any food dropped, even for one second, picks up microorganisms. But I also know that some mothers intentionally place food on the floor, knowing their infant will eat the food and develop a natural immunity to any creatures that may have adhered to the food. That makes me confident that my immune system will defend me again food I've eaten off the floor. I don't like eating food off the floor. Obviously, I'd prefer not to. But it happens.
Yeah, um, they did this on Mythbusters, like, 10 years ago...
I can't believe anybody is stupid enough to even imagine there is any rule at all.....are you serious??
I've grown tired of this question. I'm not even sure its the correct question. as I heard it years ago while working at a fast food place. Tthe five second rule applied to something dropped from a fryer not everything and if its 5 seconds or less throw it back in the fryer. Sounds gross but the fryer is anywhere from 350-400 degree's is why they would have said it. Not saying its the correct thing to do though I'm sure it happens. BTW mythbusters also tested this as well as double dipping and a few other related myths. I was surprised that the double dipping seemed to have been debunked by the mythbusters. double dipping is just so gross