Most people say it’s the five second rule. For those of us who are brave it is 10 seconds.
But what does science say when it comes to the safe time to eat food that has fallen on the floor?
It depends, firstly, on the type of food and, secondly, where you drop it.
“Wet” foods, such as slices of watermelon, apples, and sausages, attract more bacteria more quickly than dry foods such as chips or cookies.
So with these foods, the less time they stay in the ground, the better, experts say.
Scientists warn that there is no safe period of time to eat food after it has fallen to the ground.
Although the bathroom and kitchen are home to the most bacteria (about 700 per square foot), there is no safe place for bacteria to escape in your home, as at least 400 of the microscopic germs reside in areas like your living room. to be, according to a study this year.
That research revealed that there are 30,000 bacterial cells per 100 milliliters of water on sidewalks, including fecal matter and E. Coli, which then enter your home and are transferred to any food dropped on the floor.
Although putting your food under water removes some of the visible particles like dust or hair, it doesn’t remove the germs you picked up from the ground, regardless of whether it was in five seconds.
“Unfortunately, the five-second rule is a myth,” said Dr. Wendi Lebrett, an internal medicine physician and gastroenterologist. Food and wine.
Some people believe that the five-second rule originated with the Mongol ruler and tyrant Ghengis Khan, who required people to continue eating food that fell on the ground during his banquets.
Others attribute it to Julia Child’s cooking show in the 1960s, when she picked up a pancake that fell on the stove and told her viewers she could still eat it.
A 2016 Rutgers University study looked at four types of foods: watermelon, bread, bread with butter, and gummies.
Their findings revealed that watermelon had the most bacteria after the five-second rule (97 percent), while bread and buttered bread had 94 and 82 percent consecutively.
The gummies showed that 62 percent of the bacteria had attached to them.
Although it may seem like a small amount in comparison, scientists have warned that harmful bacteria exist on every surface we come into contact with and can be transferred to food the instant they come into contact.
Food acts as a magnet for bacteria like salmonella, E. coli, listeria, and even fecal matter if it falls on the floor, which can make you sick and cause digestive problems.
The process takes less than a second, and the food acts as a magnet for bacteria like salmonella, E. coli, listeria, and even fecal matter that can cause digestive problems and food poisoning, such as vomiting, diarrhea, and fever over 103 degrees Fahrenheit. .
Bacteria are very skilled at sticking to food thanks to small structures called fimbriae, which function like the hairs of a caterpillar and allow it to climb trees.
Even though science shows how quickly bacteria stick to food, said food scientist Donald Schaffner of Rutgers University. that the five-second rule will probably endure.
“People really want this to be true,” he said. National Geographic. ‘Everyone does this; We all eat food from the ground.
A 2007 apart study Clemson University food scientist Paul Dawson revealed similar findings, explaining that foods pick up bacteria as soon as they hit the ground.
Dawson and his team experimented by dropping slices of bologna on different floor surfaces, including tile, wood, and carpet.
They found that more than 99 percent of the bacterial cells were transferred from the tile to the bologna in just five seconds.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention My dear Every year, 48 million Americans become ill from a foodborne illness and 128,000 people are hospitalized.
It is unclear where the so-called five-second rule began, and some people believe it may have been influenced by Child when he mentioned the idea on his cooking show in 1963.
After dropping a pancake on the stove, Child said, “You can always pick it up if you’re alone in the kitchen.” Who is going to see?
However, the first version of the five-second rule was probably coined by Khan in the 15th century, who is rumored to have implemented the “Khan Rule” at his banquets.
“If food fell to the ground, it could stay there as long as Khan would allow it,” Dawson and food microbiologist Brian Sheldon wrote in their book “Did You Just Eat That?”
“In reality, people had little basic knowledge about microorganisms and their relationship to human diseases until much later in our history,” they continued.
‘Therefore, eating fallen foods was probably not taboo before we came to this understanding.
“People couldn’t see the bacteria, so they thought that by cleaning up any visible dirt everything would be fine.”
But it wasn’t until 1995 that the first written reference to the five-second rule appeared in the novel ‘Wanted: Rowing Coach’, which referenced a ’20-second rule’ and resurfaced in the 2001 animated film , ‘Osmosis Jones’. when a character followed the ’10 second rule’.
If one thing is for sure, the timeline is getting shorter as studies have shown that the longer food stays in the soil, the more bacteria will build up.
At the end of the day, maybe it’s time to switch to a new mantra: “When in doubt, throw it away.”
