Who believes/follows the 5 second rule?

[vitauta]

just wondering, how many people practice the five minute rule of eating food dropped on the floor...this theory holds that food that has fallen to the floor is still safe to eat if it is "rescued" in five seconds or less.

i only first heard of this 5 second rule several months ago, when it was showcased on a tv show called what would you do...i was stunned. how could anyone, i thought, believe such an obvious dirty little lie? of course, at home i routinely drop and eat food off my own floor. not to say that this is a hygienic or safe practice, but still...it's MY floor and my dirt.

but the idea of the 5 minute rule still fascinated me for a bit. even if i believed the rule and decided to try it out, i know it wouldn't work for me. i know that from the moment the food hit the floor my mind would be furiously racing with questions: what kind of food is it--wet or dry, soft or hard, how badly do i want it (cheese/chocolate or celery stick/lemon slice) and so on. next, my mind would be frantically evaluating the floor itself--its location, its condition, its type (hardwood/concrete/carpet...and, of course, who is watching what i'm maybe about to do....

so, you see, all these considerations would take someone like me much longer than even a 30 second rule would allow. i'd likely be pondering the proposition
of the dropped food with all its variables, not for 5 seconds, but more like five minutes. that food would go stale or somebody would step on it before i could make up my mind whether or not to eat it....

so, what do you all think about this sports-sounding five second rule of dropped food--is it fair or is it foul? your call....

 

[buckytom]

it depends on many variables that require a differential equation to figure out.

first, is the food washable after being dropped, before it is cooked. what about afterwards?

how dirty is the floor? are we camping, or are we in my mom's kitchen, which is suitable for performing neurosurgery

i wouldn't eat a fully cooked piece of chicken that was dropped while camping on the beach, but i'd lick up a s'more if i dropped it in my mom's kitchen, no hands needed...

 

[Andy M.]

When I was a kid, it was the three second rule. I guess we've all slowed down a couple of seconds.

If it's just me, I do the 5 second rule (or as long as it takes me to bend over and reach the floor). If I'm cooking for others, never.

 

[Steve Kroll]

Believe it or not, the 5-second rule has actually been thoroughly researched, and it's been determined that bacteria such as salmonella and e. coli can infect food in less than 5 seconds.

Five-second rule - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As for my own feelings, it depends on what I've dropped. If it's a piece of meat, forget about it. It goes in the trash. On the other hand, if it's a vegetable that I haven't yet peeled - for example, an onion or potato - I'll just wash it off and proceed with it. I figure my kitchen floor is cleaner than the dirt it grew in.

That's just what I do. YMMV.

 

[Silversage]

If something falls on the floor, my dog grabs it before 5 seconds are up!

 

[Steve Kroll]

If something falls on the floor, my dog grabs it before 5 seconds are up!

LOL... yah, no kiddin'. I have one of those "chow hounds" too.

 

[Katie H]

We fall within the Andy M./buckytom range.

First, let me say that our kitchen floor gets scrubbed a minimum of once a week. Many times multiple times. Just because I'm a neat freak. I can relate to bucky's mother.

Then, most of the time it's just the two of us and we have "inside" and "outside" shoes. Although, most of the time neither of us wears shoes when we're inside. Indoors, in the summer is bare feet. In the colder months, just socks.

At any rate, we're usually pretty quick at retrieving anything that makes it way to the floor before much time elapses. Seconds usually. Never minutes. I can't even begin to comprehend "minutes!" What? Are we waiting for the food to come back to the table/counter on its own?

Our general thoughts on the "food on the floor/ground" concept is that it all depends on what the food is (sticky, wet, dry, etc.), how it's handled after hitting the floor depends on its characteristic. Same for the surface it lands on.

As someone already mentioned, different rules apply when dropping food while camping or at the beach. Except, as bucky pointed out, the condition of the surface on which the food is dropped definitely allows for some latitude in one's decision as to whether to eat or not eat.

In many aspects of our daily lives, I often am amazed at how hinky folks get because something is deemed unsafe/unhealthy, etc. Well, guess what? Somehow I don't think the Pilgrims or pioneers were as sterile as we are today. Yes, I know, their life expectancy was lower than ours is today, but I still think we need to put things into a less clinical perspective when it comes to such things as the "5-second rule" or whatever it may be called.

Plus, I remember very vividly listening to my father (a physician) comment when I was young that he felt humankind was being sanitized beyond necessity. "How can our immune systems be maintained if everything is cleaned to death," he would say.

Oops, sorry. I'll get off my soapbox now. I dropped my toast anyway. Gotta blow on it real good so I can finish my breakfast. Cool, too. It landed butter-side up.

 

[CharlieD]

I cannot stay that I believe it, but I certainly do fallow it. Dirt gets on food the moment the food hits the floor, 5 second or more. I mostly go by what it is that fell on the floor and what floor or where. I remember we were visiting my friends for a dinner one evening. Our daughters were about 2 or so. They are very close in age. And somebody dropped some food on the floor. By the time one of the husbands, that's me or the other guy, got up to go get a broom, girls ate everything. We were just laughing about, what terrible parents we are. Girls were perfectly fine and happy. Cannot say that their floor was the example of cleanliness either.

 

[Alix]

LMAO at BT and the neurosurgery comment. I have friends like that.

OK, at the risk of grossing out many of you clean freaks out there, I routinely abide by the 5 second rule. Although in our house, you'd better make it more like 5 NANOseconds or the dog will eat it first. We usually only move THAT fast if its chocolate or something else that might make Murray sick. Having said that, did I mention I live with a dog? A very, very VERY hairy dog? It doesn't matter how often I vacuum, sweep, roomba and wash my floors, the dog is a giant walking dust bunny. I have probably ingested more hair than any person should admit to. If I see the hair on my food, I pick it off, but really, it aint gonna kill me. I figure if I can tolerate that, there isn't much on my floor that is worse.

I don't do the 5 second rule anywhere but home though.

 

[pacanis]

I'm not very worried about germs and such. But that doesn't mean I'll eat whatever is dropped. It depends what it is and where it lands.
I dropped a whole beer can chicken before. It was fully cooked and I was elbowing the storm door with one elbow and it slid right off that stupid, little, Steve Raichlen BCC rack. I fully blame him I could have peeled the skin off, but I threw it out. More out of frustration than anything. Along with the rack! Probably in under five seconds, too!

 

[Timothy]

A point I think that has been missed; Most people walk into their kitchen with the same shoes on that they have walked around in town wearing.

Not to gross out anyone, but that spot near the little tavern downtown that 45 drunks have vomited on and 50 others have urinated on...A spec of that gagness might have clung to your shoes and scrapped off onto your kitchen floor. Ever wonder what it is that dogs find so fasinating about sniffing your shoes? They can smell the crap you've walked in throughout your day!

I don't care how slim the chance, I'm not eating some drunks vomit or pee. People spit on the sidewalk all the time. Yucko! No piece of food is worth the amount of problems eating something really bad can do to you.

Sorry, if something falls onto my floor, it gets thrown into the trash bin.

I don't care what it is or how long it contacted the floor.

<Gag> <Retch>

 

[Alix]

People wear their shoes in their HOUSE????? You're just messing with me aren't you Timothy?

 

[Katie H]

People wear their shoes in their HOUSE????? You're just messing with me aren't you Timothy?

Me, too, Alix. See my post re: shoes inside. Just funnin'. But, we rarely wear shoes inside, but to each his own.

Although, we live waaaaaay out in the country/county and, thankfully foodwise, the nearest watering hole (bar) is nearly 50 miles away. We live in a dry county in the Bible Belt, so "spirits" are frowned upon in our neck of the woods.

 

[Timothy]

People wear their shoes in their HOUSE????? You're just messing with me aren't you Timothy?

I don't know how you do it, but when I"m carrying in 14 bags of groceries, I don't stop, take off my shoes at the door and then go into the kitchen to set down the bags on each of 5 trips. I have my outside shoes on the entire time.

Do you really take off your shoes every time you enter your home? Everyone who enters your home removes their shoes first? How cool is that? Do you keep slippers near the front door like in Japan? I've always thought of doing that, but have never implemented it yet.

 

[Andy M.]

...Do you really take off your shoes every time you enter your home? Everyone who enters your home removes their shoes first? How cool is that? Do you keep slippers near the front door like in Japan? I've always thought of doing that, but have never implemented it yet.

We do. It's so much more comfortable!

We do not require our guest to do so. It's not an issue of protecting our floors so much as a matter of comfort. Of course, if guests want to take off their shoes, it OK with us. Our grandson now takes his shoes off automatically when he's here.

 

[Timothy]

We do. It's so much more comfortable!

We do not require our guest to do so. It's not an issue of protecting our floors so much as a matter of comfort. Of course, if guests want to take off their shoes, it OK with us. Our grandson now takes his shoes off automatically when he's here.

So, as in my example, you remove your shoes each trip in the house when you're carrying in supplies from the car? Then put them back on to go out for the next trip? I've never seen anyone do that.

 

[Andy M.]

So, as in my example, you remove your shoes each trip in the house when you're carrying in supplies from the car? Then put them back on to go out for the next trip? I've never seen anyone do that.

Neither have I. Let's not get absurd about this. Your point about tracking in nasties on your shoes is valid. My point about not wearing shoes in the house is as well. I didn't present my post as a rebuttal to yours. I was responding to Alix's and Katie's posts.

 

[roadfix]

If I have guests around the 5 second rule applies. Otherwise, I go commando....no time limit.

 

[roadfix]

As far as wearing shoes in the house we take ours off and walk around in slippers like they do in Japan. Guests and other family members who visit us, however, have the option of doing so if they desire.
If we did not have carpeting we wouldn't mind the shoes. The other factor is comfort. I don't like lounging around with shoes on.

 

[Timothy]

Neither have I. Let's not get absurd about this. Your point about tracking in nasties on your shoes is valid. My point about not wearing shoes in the house is as well. I didn't present my post as a rebuttal to yours. I was responding to Alix's and Katie's posts.

Thanks for clarifying, Andy. I really did wonder if anyone DID remove their shoes every single time they entered their home.

After I've removed the rest of the carpet from my home and installed the ceramic tiles throughout the house, I will also implement the "No shoes" habit. It's one of the most attractive parts of Japanese culture that I admire.

I wasn't intending to sound argumentative in my post. As an old retired Database guy, I'm a stickler for details. If I sense that a "field" has been left empty, I ask for the data to fill it until all information has been supplied. A habit that many find irritating, but developed over many decades of information gathering.

I apologize if I irritated you needlessly.