Have you ever dropped something on the floor and quickly picked it up saying “5 SECOND RULE!?” You tell yourself that the food is still edible and that within those five seconds the food has still remained salvageable. Personally, whenever I drop something on the floor, I don’t eat it. I sort of just stare at it, looking at the nice piece of food that I now can’t eat. Never though do I pick it up quickly and eat it as if it never fell on the floor. Other people do that though, believing the myth and continuing on with their day as if nothing happened. Although I don’t believe in the “5-Second Rule,” I always wonder whether the rule is real or just a myth. Is the food you just dropped on the floor truly still clean and safe to eat?
This “5-Second Rule” myth has been around for as long as I can remember. After investigating more into this phenomenon, I found an interesting story about Julia Child that sources like CNN(link) claim to contribute to the “5-Second Rule.” PBS describes Child as a well-known cook who brought her skills into the kitchens of homes around America through her shows. According to Paul Dawson, the writer of the article Is there really a five-second rule about food on the floor? the story of Julia Clarke is very unclear. Rumors were spread as to what actually happened, so false information was spread. Dawson describes that during a taping of Child’s show, she dropped the food she was making on the floor and picked it up, proceeding with the show. Apparently Child thought that if no one was around to see it fall, then it didn’t matter if you picked the food up and continued cooking with it. This was the rumor spread, but in reality the CNN article clarifies that Julia Child actually dropped it on the stovetop. Even though that’s the true story, the rumored one still continues to be talked about, further encouraging the myth (Dawson 2016).
With much debate over whether food is still safe to eat within 5 seconds of dropping, Aston University’s School of Life and Health Sciences in England decided to research into the topic. Scientific American’s Larry Greenemeir (2014) explains that the group found evidence that if you pick up the food faster, it will have less bacteria. But another confounding factor also plays a huge role: the surface in which the food is dropped on. Larry Greenemeir (2014) mentions that Anthony Hilton and his team of researchers at Aston University found that even though the amount of time effects how much bacteria is transferred, bacteria is still spread from the initial touch of the food on the surface. He also found that surfaces like carpets are less likely to transfer bacteria as much as surfaces like tiles. Aston University’s studies also showed us that the type of food determines how much bacteria is transferred. For example, jello is going to obtain much more bacteria than a cracker because jello has a lot more moisture. Greenemeir (2014) mentions that Hilton and his team of researchers also took a poll to determine who actually uses the rule. Hilton and his team found that 81% of males and 64% of females use it. This means that more men tend to think that savoring that piece of food within five seconds is safe (Greenemeir 2014).
The truth behind the “5-Second Rule” leaves everyone curious, especially high school senior Jillian Clarke. In hope to find the answer behind whether one could safety eat something that has fallen on the floor within five seconds, Clarke conducted an experiment. According to Dawson (2016), Jillian swabbed the floors of the college to see if any microorganisms transferred. According to Skarnulis, writer of ‘5-Second Rule’ Rules, Sometimes, Jillian found barely any microorganisms. Even after doing the experiment again- nothing. It seemed as if the floor was too clean to have microorganisms. With much surprise, Jillian moved on and continued to test the rule in a different way. Since that didn’t work, Skarnulis further goes on to explain that Jillian proceeded to test gummy bears and cookies. He explains that she placed them on different types of tiles that had a certain amount of E. coli on them. There, she concluded that the instant the food touches the surface, bacteria is transferred (Skarnulis). What Jillian concluded was that it doesn’t matter how long the food is on the floor. Think of it like this, whenever you go and post something on the internet, the instant you post something you know that you are putting yourself out there. You are making yourself vulnerable, allowing everyone to see you. This is similar to when food touches the ground. The instant the food touches the ground, its vulnerable to all types of bacteria and it doesn’t take long for it to transfer. Given the type of surface and food, and the amount of bacteria on the floor, you may or may not be giving yourself a sickness. According to Dawson (2016), a sickness from food can take up to a week to kick in.
Essentially, no surface is truly clean. Dawson (2016) mentions that at The Art Institute of California, the culinary school teaches the students that even things like the countertop and stovetop contain germs. In the end, what I would take away from this article is that dropping your food on the ground is like Russian Roulette. You need to take into consideration that time is not the only factor that plays a role. Now whether you’ll get sick or not, is also inconsistent and depends on many factors. So is the “5-Second Rule” just a myth?! Yes and no. Yes, in the sense that bacteria is always transferred. No, in the sense that you can eat something picked up off the floor and avoid any sickness. It all depends!!!
Sources:
http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/features/5-second-rule-rules-sometimes-?page=3
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-the-5-second-rule-for-dropped-food/
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/10/health/five-second-rule-food-on-floor/
http://www.pbs.org/food/julia-child/
Photo Sources:
Photo 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-second_rule
Photo 2: https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/5-seconds.html
Photo 3: http://www.theamazingmedicine.ml/2013/07/microbiology-vi-transmission-of.html
Hi Jill,
I’ll be the first to admit that I have been a long standing member of “The 5-second rule is really a thing” club. Ever since I was a tiny (not so tiny), food loving girl, I would pretty much pick up any and everything I dropped and put it back in my mouth, gross right? Yeah I know. Luckily however I have lived to be a healthy 19 years old and no longer do that. However, not because I believe that rule isn’t real (I will forever believe in it), but for the fear of the germs and other icky things that you essentially invite into your system when you eat food off of the floor. With that said, I do still think there are slight exceptions to the “omg, that’s so dirty” objection to this practice. If you are at a table and drop your food, by all means I say scoop it right off that table and eat it :). I will encourage however, staying away from grassy areas, carpet, hardwood floors and anything outside honestly because people are gross!
Here is a myth-busters video about the rule that I found to be interesting: http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/videos/five-second-rule-minimyth/
Dropping food happens to everyone. I’ve done it plenty of times. It is pretty interesting that you looked into the science behind this common rule. I think that without even looking into the statistics, it depends on what type of food it is and where you drop it. If you drop it somewhere super dirty, obviously you don’t want to eat it. I think that it all depends on good judgement. Here is a recent article trying to determine if this “rule” really is true. Click here to see the article.
Dropping food happens to everyone. I’ve done it plenty of times. It is pretty interesting that you looked into the science behind this common rule. I think that without even looking into the statistics, it depends on what type of food it is and where you drop it. If you drop it somewhere super dirty, obviously you don’t want to eat it. I think that it all depends on good judgement. Here is a recent article trying to determine if this “rule” really is true. Click here to see the article.
I am the type of person who would typically eat something I dropped on the floor, if we’re being completely open and honest here. Of course, if it was outside, or on a visibly dirty floor, or if I could see that the food landed on something gross, I wouldn’t even think about eating it. But if I was sitting alone in my dorm eating a bag of pretzels and I dropped one, I would definitely eat it. As you wrote about in your blog post, food that contains more moisture absorbs more germs. I would never eat, for example, a piece of fruit like a strawberry off of the floor. This article is one that also claims that the 5-second rule is pretty much irrelevant, and time has nothing to do with the bacteria that your food absorbs from the floor.
Clemson Article
Hi Jill,
I’ll be the first to admit that I have been a long standing member of “The 5-second rule is really a thing” club. Ever since I was a tiny (not so tiny), food loving girl, I would pretty much pick up any and everything I dropped and put it back in my mouth, gross right? Yeah I know. Luckily however I have lived to be a healthy 19 years old and no longer do that. However, not because I believe that rule isn’t real (I will forever believe in it), but for the fear of the germs and other icky things that you essentially invite into your system when you eat food off of the floor. With that said, I do still think there are slight exceptions to the “omg, that’s so dirty” objection to this practice. If you are at a table and drop your food, by all means I say scoop it right off that table and eat it :). I will encourage however, staying away from grassy areas, carpet, hardwood floors and anything outside honestly because people are gross!
Here is a myth-busters video about the rule that I found to be interesting: http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/videos/five-second-rule-minimyth/
Hey Jillian,
I have always wondered if the five second rule is true or not. Despite, ill admit, using the five second rule before, I never really believed that no bacteria would be transferred. Although I thought it was interesting that in your article you talked about different types of food picking up different amounts of bacteria. There are definitely some foods where I draw the line and won’t touch them once they hit the floor, especially foods with more moisture. This apparently is good practice as bacteria have been found to transfer onto foods through moisture.
Hi Jillian,
I personally believe in the 5- second rule to an extent. If I ever drop something on the ground depending on what it is I will/will not eat it. i.e. If I get peanut butter on the floor- I’ll scoop the top off, if an ice cube falls- I won’t put it in my drink. I am not really a person who is a germaphobe, but at the same time I believe nothing is ever truly clean so you might as well live a little. I attached an article on scientists proving the 5 second rule and I think you might like it. http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20160910/scientist-tests-5-second-rule–poll To be honest, I feel like we will never know if anything is ever safe, so you might as well eat it (unless it is totally gross like yogurt/apple sauce, etc.).