Truth to the “5 Second Rule”

The Five Second Rule: “The belief that if one picks up a dropped food item very quickly, it is safe to eat.” Everyone is familiar with the old wives tale, the “5 second rule.” Growing up, I’ve always believed that even if you drop your food on the ground, you have 5 seconds todccfd1477e13ffae2443a319ea7e5844.400x462x1 pick it up before it goes bad. However, I wondered who came up with this rule? Is it a myth? Is your food safe to eat? 

Jillian Clarke, an intern at the food and nutrition department at the University of Illinois, conducted a study. Clarke told WebMD, she “swabbed the floors around the University in the lab, hall, dormitory, and cafeteria to see how many organisms she could isolate. We examined the swabs, and there were very few microorganisms.” According to WebMD,
“to control the study, cookies and gummy bears were placed on both rough and smooth sterile tiles covered with measured amounts of E. coli. ‘We did see a transfer of germs before five seconds,’ Clarke tells WebMD. ‘We were dealing with a large number of cells.’”

Research show that “70% of women and 56% of men said they were familiar with the rule. Women were more likely to invoke it. Not surprisingly, people are inclined to eat dropped cookies and candy more often than dropped broccoli and cauliflower.” 

Null- Hypothesis: If you drop food on the ground for less than 5 seconds it will not have any bacteria on it and will be safe to eat. 

Alternative Hypothesis: If you drop food on the ground for less than 5 seconds it will have bacteria on it and will not be safe to eat. 

My Opinion 

I do agree with the findings of this experiment, however, I feel they could have conducted this experiment in more detail. By using foods with different textures, it could have helped prove their findings. For example, a sticky lollipop is more likely to catch more bacteria on it than a cracker. They also could have considered third variables, such as the dirtiness of the floor. 

Salmonella  

There are many different diseases you can get from eating food that wassalmonella on the ground.             One example I will expand on today is salmonella. Salmonella is “a bacterial disease of the intestinal tract. Salmonella is a group of bacteria that cause typhoid fever, food poisoning, gastroenteritis, enteric fever and other illnesses. People become infected mostly through contaminated foods.” 

What Causes Salmonella?

The most common way that Salmonella is spread is lack of hygiene. WebMD says it’s spread from, “kitchen surfaces that are not kept clean, lack of hand washing procedures during food preparation, and lack of hand washing after going to the toilet or changing a baby’s diapers, are common routes for contamination and infection. A person with contaminated hands can pass the infection on to other people by touching them, or touching surfaces which others then touch.” 

Symptoms of Salmonella

  • Stomach cramps
  • Bloody stools
  • Chills
  • Diarrhea
  • Fever
  • Headache
  • Muscle pains
  • Nausea
  • Vomiting

Take Away Message

Even if something was dropped on the floor for one second, do not eat it. Immediately after the food hits contact with he floor, it attracts bacteria. This bacteria will make you very sick. So, the next time you hear someone say, “oh you can eat it, its the 5 second rule,” stop them and inform them of the dangers it can have to your body. 

Sources:

http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/features/5-second-rule-rules-sometimes-

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2015/09/10/five-second-rule-dropped-food/#.Vg6snGA-D-Y

http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/mythbusters-database/5-second-rule-with-food/

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-the-5-second-rule-for-dropped-food/

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/homehygiene/Pages/does-the-five-second-rule-really-work.aspx

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/12/10/5-second-rule_n_2272288.html

5 thoughts on “Truth to the “5 Second Rule”

  1. Adam Patrick Evans

    Cool topic idea, but I do think you should have incorporated additional studies. This is just one lab with two different types of foods. Regardless the findings of this study are crazy. It ridiculous how fast bacteria gets onto food. The amount of times my younger brother and I have used to 5 second rule is unthinkable. As a kid you don’t even think of bacteria getting on the food but only dirt. If you pick that gummy bear up and there’s no dirt on it, you’re good to go. This is definitely an issue that needs to be presented more frequently to the youth. But I wonder how effective this actually is, with such a known rule shouldn’t more people be getting sick by using it? Maybe the reason it isn’t being promoted as such a prominent issue is because it’s really not that big of a deal?

  2. Margaret Kreienberg

    I am a slight germaphobe so as soon as my food falls onto the ground, I bring it straight to the garbage. However, it seems as though everyone follows the “5 second rule.” We use our hands to do so many things, including to eat certain foods. How dirty is the human hand compared to the floor? I know right now, I have a cold so I am constantly blowing my nose. I am sure my hands are very dirty, yet I will still go back to my dorm too eat food. At any given time, there are 5,000 germs on the human hand. How many germs were on the ground in the experiment? Also, I agree with another commenter. There are so many anecdotes circling that can make the “5 second rule” sound credible. But we know that anecdotes are not a reliable base for science.

  3. Kristen Lauren Mckenzie

    I always knew there was something wrong with this myth, even though I am guilty of doing the same thing. You never really think about how quick bacteria can get into food. I always felt that 5 seconds was such a short time so bacteria couldn’t get into contact that quickly but as I think about it more dirt is everywhere and it travels in milliseconds. It is probably worse for kids because so many kids probably think its okay to eat the food after 5 seconds and that’s probably how they get sick faster. This topic needs to be looked at more my scientist and figure out the best way to stress the importance of not eating anything off the ground it is dangerous and can lead to severe sickness.

  4. Bailee Cooper

    Just last night I was eating popcorn and dropped it on the ground. I quickly picked it up and ate it, thinking about the five-second rule. I was planning on writing this same blog, but you beat me to it! However, could eating food that’s been on the floor for less than five seconds really put your body in danger and make you very sick? If I dropped a piece of popcorn on the floor of my dorm, and immediately picked it up, will I really get sick? I suppose it’s possible, as your sources said, but I would like to see more research done on the amount and intensities of sicknesses correlated with eating food dropped within five seconds.

  5. Stephanie Michelle Friedman

    This is a very interesting topic, but when you say it makes you very sick does that happen every single time? I think this topic definitely needs more research like you have said because I can use an anecdote and say I have disgustingly eaten food off of the ground and am still okay today. I think it is an interesting start and if more research is done there could be findings on the topic.

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