Is there any truth to the idea that, if a piece of food is on the ground for less than five seconds, it’s still good? I use it as an excuse often enough to be curious about the answer.
Is the subject food to be cooked or eaten as is? Also, is it a dry food, soft food, damp food, etc, what kind of food?
– DD
It’s just generally applied to anything, though I think it’s mainly on snack-food type things, ie cookies, candy bars, chips, etc…
Well compared to 5 hours when ants are probably crawling on it and such yes.
Germs are rather slow crawling critters. It takes them a while to get to a piece of food on the ground once they see it, approximately 5 seconds according to a study I read but I can’t find that source now.
Now you might be asking yourself, “But what about the ones that are closer?” Well those have either been squished directly by the food piece, or blow out of the way by the impact shock wave. So there is 5 seconds worth of a safety zone once the piece has landed
To hell with the type of ‘food’. I would be more concerned with the type of ground said food landed on. A clean for probably has a higher second rule than say the floor at a bio-chemical lab, a locker room, a dirty ass floor full of mud and pet hair, etc…
USCDiver, the study you refer to was done by the Department of Germs and Viruses, a branch of the CDC, back in the mid 80s. In their study they found that on the average floor in an American household the time before HARMFUL bacteria to reach the food is 4.75 seconds.
BN, would a BK dumpster in NYC meet your criteria for said landing area, “second rule”?
– DD
Wow, I never knew the 5 second rule had any scientific bearing. I always thought that it was just some arbitrary round number. Either way, here’s my take on the 5 second rule:
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If its wet like spaghetti or anything that picks up dust, dirt or crap in any manner, it does not apply.
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If it lands on dirt or in the garbage or in a puddle,
anything ungood, don’t eat it. -
If it breathes the same air as the bathroom, its not food anymore.
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If its some dry food or like a grape or something, its probably still good.
Pretty much use your best judgement. If its gross when you pick it up, you should prolly dump it.
Wow. I think I’m gonna have to agree with SouprChkn on this one, in that I wasn’t actually expecting the rule to have been proved in a study. Also, the criteria that mega-fowl provided are quite good, and are always the ones that I used.
Thanks, guys, you’ve been quite helpful.
It’s a legal question. Whose ground, etc. Ask you friendly lawyer (an oxymoron?).
personally, the more I would like to eat the item on the floor, the longer the 5-20 second rule gets streached out
Kinoons: You would have to check with USCDiver and BearNemo, but I would assume that the “Department of Germs and Viruses” study considered the impact of a food’s desirability on the “4.75 second rule.” Presumably the increased levels of serotonin resulting from the consumption of desired foods counteract the pathogenic effects of any harmful bacteria.
I believe the Department of Germs and Viruses was defunded after they caused that outbreak of cooties in an Ohio elementary school.
Regarding SouprChkn’s rule #3 - My rule is: “If it’s breathing, wait until it stops before you eat it.”
Strangely enough, the five second rule has been proven to fluctuate with demographics. I know from personal experience that it can become known as the “ten minute rule” for broke college kids.
I once fished a Skittle I dropped out of a mud puddle. I’m so ashamed.
Damn, Jester, I thought you were asking about basketball.
I’m a major advocate of the 5-second rule. 
Your hands aren’t any better half the time anyway. Only exceptions to this rule:
- it is made of a substance which will stick to stuff upon contact.
- It hits the floor of a bathroom or area of similar nature.
- In the alotted 5 seconds, someone or something violates the food in some way you find unsantitary enough to discourage you from wanting to ingest it. (You may interpret “violates” in any manner you please)
depends on floor ownership…floor in my house - 5 seconds (except bathroom)
floor in restaurant - 2 seconds
unknown floor - REALLY depends on what the food is
I’ve always found it funny how the same people who won’t eat something that falls on the ground will do only a cursory wash of their veggies and such.
Neat anthropological dirtiness model:
Things out of place are dirty. Things in their place are clean. Hence food on the plate is clean, food on an (equally clean) table is dirty.
Hair on the head is clean. Hair in the food is dirty. Hey, this is fun!
And from making out…my girlfriend can stick her tongue in my mouth, but it’s gross to share a toothbrush?
And don’t forget you can extend the 5-second rule if you blow the germs off the food after you pick it up…
I starting to wonder about this 5 second “contamination” rule relative to food falling on the floor. As soon as food is exposed to air it is also exposed to microbials such as species of Aspergillus, Stachoboytris, Penicillium (please cut me a break on the spelling) etc. Some of these, as I understand it, can be 10 times more deadly than anything known. Should we really care if it falls on the floor?