Thread: The 5 second rule

If you drop a piece of food on the floor will you pick it up and still eat it as long as you pick it up 'quickly'?

I dropped a good size chunk of my cookie on the kitchen floor but I picked it up within a second, looked at it really good in the light, blew on it a couple of times real hard...and then I ate it.

How about you, do you do the 5 second rule too?

It depends on what it is. A cookie, yes.

A piece of Velveeta or some other moist food...not so much. It is a bit wet and 'things' can stick.

That was on mythbusters a while back. funny show.

so....same as Michelle...if it's dry, and you're in your own "clean" home...it's fine. If it's wet, and you can't wash it off i.e. a piece of chocolate cake...no, no matter how long the time. Granted...if the LAST piece of chocolate cake were to fall on the floor here in my kitchen, and I had just cleaned the floor. wellllll.....

I have a 5 day rule.

if it's goopy.. no way.. if it's dry, yup! Not giving up that cookie!

Blow off the dog hair and eat it is my motto. Also, it depends on what it is and how bad I want it. I have a few times dropped an uncooked chicken breast in the sink. I either rinse it well with hot water or I have been known to wash it off with some diluted Dawn and then rinse.

I'm with most...depends on how bad I want it! But if it's moist..no.

If I can wipe it off with a paper towel, then most likely, YES!

If it's wet, gooey, or sticky, then NO!

Originally Posted by fuego

I have a 5 day rule.

Originally Posted by Lista

That was on mythbusters a while back.

Finding: BUSTED

Explanation:Whoever came up with "five-second rule" had probably just dropped an entire cookie on the ground and needed a sanitary excuse to save it. But according to research from Clemson University food scientist Paul Dawson, that cookie could've picked up toxic salmonella bacteria during that brief time window, especially on a tiled or wooden surface.

When MythBusters Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage bit into the same popular presumption, they realized that different foods produce a smorgasbord of results. Comparing the bacteria colonies picked up by dry saltines and wet pastrami after the sodium-rich snacks hung out on a contaminated floor for a few seconds, Jamie and Adam noticed the moist sausage scooped up far more flora.

When the MythBusters then analyzed food-free contact plates that had spent two- and six-second intervals on a contaminated surface, the "five-second rule" quickly crumbled. Even if something spends a mere millisecond on the floor, it attracts bacteria. How dirty it gets depends on the food's moisture, surface geometry and floor condition - not time...

http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/my...ule-with-food/