Thread: 5 second rule

Depends on what it is and how clean the floor is. I wouldn't on my floor, I have dogs.

It not only depends on how long it has been on the floor, but also on what it has fallen in. If I see something fall, and it looks clean enough to eat when I pick it up, I'll eat it. Some things need a rinse under the sink first, but most don't.

Peanut buttered bread falling peanut butter side down is where I draw the line though. That shit grabs everything off the floor.

I pretty much agree with the above. It depends on how clean the floor is and what I dropped. I know that a little bit of dirt actually helps your immune system, which a lot of people don't understand, so they want to make sure that everything they've touched has been 99.99% sanitized. If I drop it in the sand, though - or an overtly dirty floor - and it's something that is bound to pick up a lot of the dirt, I'll throw it out.

Hehe, actually there was a news report on this awhile back. It said its safe up to 30 seconds, depending on how clean the floor is.
I generally dont care, as long as theres nothing on it.

I don't eat anything that's been on the floor I don't care how clean the floor is, or how long its been there. What can I say, I'm delicate ^^

I recently saw a news article that said it should be more like a zero second rule. That got me pretty pissed off because I'm sick of hearing false scientific information in the news. People are already too concerned with things being "safe". Take some risks, Live.

Yea really, whats the worst that could happen?

I actually made a thread somewhat similar to this a little while ago, talking about the whole "exposure to germs" issue, and the 5-second rule. This is the article that inspired the thread (When I originally saw it, it was a video on CNN, but this article is talking about the same story).

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/condi...ies/index.html

Obviously the 5-second rule is not all that bad - even for children.

There is one speck of light in the whole 5-second-rule bullshit. It is a great way to determine who should be eaten when a group is forced to cannibalism on a deserted island. People that believe in the 5-second-rule are idiots.

Food gets floor-germs all over it in a fraction of a second. Not as much germs as are on your hands however. Most floors in western houses are clean enough not to pose any threat to your health, even if you were to lick them.

Look, I don't eat soup of the floor if I drop it, but everything half-solid is still fine to eat.

I don't like the taste of dirt, so I said no.

Originally Posted by drewmandan

I don't like the taste of dirt, so I said no.

I don't eat stuff if it's covered in dirt either. But many times food looks perfectly fine after falling on the floor.

Nah, I feel weird doing it.

Originally Posted by EchoSun13

Nah, I feel weird doing it.

This is exactly why I made this thread. Why is it weird? The only difference is that the food has some germs on it now. It's like as a culture we have created this imaginary force that keeps us from eating things if they aren't perfect.

I used to feel the same way but then I realized I was being completely ridiculous.

I follow it most of the time. If I have a lollipop, and I drop it in the sand, I'm probably not gonna eat it.

I'll eat some types of food if they fall on my floor at home, I always check it though and if I see anything on it I'll throw it away. If the food will make it easy for things to stick to it, then I just throw it away without checking. Other than my house, I won't touch food on the floor. There's no telling what's been on those floors! I at least know what gets on my floors. If I was outside somewhere and food fell on the ground I definitely wouldn't eat it. It doesn't even take 5 seconds for bacteria to get on the food.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-second_rule

In 2003, intern Jillian Clarke of the University of Illinois found in a survey that 56% of the men and 70% of the women surveyed were familiar with the five-second rule, and determined that a variety of foods were significantly contaminated by even brief exposure to a tile inoculated with E.coli; on the other hand, Clarke also found no significant evidence of contamination on public flooring. Clarke received the 2004 Ig Nobel Prize in public health (a parody award) for this work.

A more thorough study in 2006 using salmonella on wood, tiles, and nylon carpet found that the bacteria were still thriving after twenty-eight days of exposure under dry conditions. Tested after eight hours' exposure, the bacteria could still contaminate bread and bologna in under five seconds, but a minute-long contact increased contamination about tenfold (with tile and carpet surfaces only).

The five-second rule was also featured in an episode of the Discovery Channel series MythBusters. There was no significant difference in the number of bacteria collected from 2 seconds exposure as there was from 6 seconds exposure. The moisture, surface geometry and the location the food item was dropped on did however affect the number of bacteria.

i even eat other people's food.

My catch phrase is "are you going to finish that". If someone is about to throw away good food...or even soda ill ask them for it lol.

Just can't let food go to waste!

ewww gross no, out of the question

I have worked with dogs and cats for nearly a year. I know what comes out of them. How lazy owners are, and how animals step in their own poo then just walk all over the place.

So concrete, out of the question. Not to mention, people also spit on the floors. Any home with cats or dogs, out of the question - cat paws are even nastier. Do you know what they do with their paws???

WORMS, EWWW, NASTY, NO THANK YOU

I know what tends to drop on my kitchen floor, and how often we mop. And um, you're safer licking my cats butt.

Originally Posted by juroara

ewww gross no, out of the question

I have worked with dogs and cats for nearly a year. I know what comes out of them. How lazy owners are, and how animals step in their own poo then just walk all over the place.

So concrete, out of the question. Not to mention, people also spit on the floors. Any home with cats or dogs, out of the question - cat paws are even nastier. Do you know what they do with their paws???

WORMS, EWWW, NASTY, NO THANK YOU

I know what tends to drop on my kitchen floor, and how often we mop. And um, you're safer licking my cats butt.

You must have some nasty floors!

The food in question and the ground are dry, then yes. I just pick it up, blow it off and pop it in.

Floor? Nah.

But I do wash up in my pub, and I do get bloody hungry after 6 hours or so... so if some random crap comes back half eaten then... why not?

Plus I get stuff they've finished with in the kitchen... half a tub of lemon curd... that was good times.

Originally Posted by juroara

ewww gross no, out of the question

I have worked with dogs and cats for nearly a year. I know what comes out of them. How lazy owners are, and how animals step in their own poo then just walk all over the place.

So concrete, out of the question. Not to mention, people also spit on the floors. Any home with cats or dogs, out of the question - cat paws are even nastier. Do you know what they do with their paws???

WORMS, EWWW, NASTY, NO THANK YOU

I know what tends to drop on my kitchen floor, and how often we mop. And um, you're safer licking my cats butt.

I don't eat food that was on the floor but I lick my dogs paw all the time...

It depends wholly on the product and the condition of where it fell... things that are semi solid like mashed potatoes or noodles no...
solid stuff such as cooked meat, hell yeah, 2 seconds under the sink and it's fine

It isn't true, but if I drop a cracker on a hardwood flor that it pretty clean, I don't care too much.

I don't think most of you realize just what is on most floors. It's true that the chances of getting infected with something are small, as they usually are, but eating food off the floor increases those odds by an order of magnitude. So, if every bite of food normally has a (numbers made up) 0.0001% chance of giving you a bacterial infection, a bite of food off the floor might be at 0.001%. Still low, but higher.