If you grew up in the United States, you are more than likely familiar with the phrase “the five-second rule”. This is one of the golden rules that have saved many fallen foods from being immediately discarded.
Remember when you were a kid and your last piece of candy fell on the floor? Well, as long as you picked it up in five seconds, it was perfectly suitable to eat.
With the “five-second rule” being so ingrained into American society, some studies have been conducted in order to see if the rule holds true or if there should be some reconsideration for deciding to put something in your mouth that has been on the floor for five seconds.
According to a survey conducted in 2003, 70% of woman and 56% of wen were familiar with this rule. This same survey also revealed that women were more likely to eat something that had fallen on the floor.
Jillian Clarke, a high school student from Illinois conducted an experiment to see how much bacteria was able to transfer from a tiled floor to gummy bears in 5 seconds. Another study was conducted through Clemson University where the researchers spread some salmonella on tile carpet, and wood flooring.
They then placed either bologna or a piece of bread on the surfaces. These placements ranged from five seconds to one minute. The findings concluded that the amount of time the food was in contact with bacteria didn’t quite matter. Each piece of food still became contaminated.
So, maybe reconsider telling this golden rule to your kid in order to avoid any consumption of unnecessary bacteria and contamination.