The Five Second Rule

[Jonathan Jarvis]

My youngest (aged 8) dropped a piece of chocolate on the floor. Saw what she had done and picked it up saying "Five Second Rule" and put it in her mouth.

Five Second Rule -Its safe to eat it if it has not been on the floor for 5 seconds. I told her that contamination can happen immediately.

Does anyone else practice the Five Second Rule? Also is your behaviour different if people are watching?

 

[RobertMerton]

Contamination does happen immediately.
Saw an article about it in the BBC.

If its the floor I will chuck it unless I can rinse it (i.e. a piece of fruit like an apple you just wash it again).

 

[SithDoughnut]

Does anyone else practice the Five Second Rule? Also is your behaviour different if people are watching?

I use the five second rule as a completely invalid excuse to be a mess with food. It does depend on the food and floor in question though.

 

[MorkandMindy]

Chocolate doesn't dissolve in water so can be given a very good rinse under the tap if it isn't hot.

If an ice lolly is dropped then the outside will melt off completely in half a minute roughly, you can see what is happening.



The problem I would say is parasites, particularly worm eggs I'd guess. Less than 5 seconds is a stupid rule, more than 5 years would be a better one.

See if you can get someone else's opinion because these are just the guesses of someone trained in physics and electronics who knows almost zip about biology...

 

[The-Doctor]

Contamination does happen immediately.
Saw an article about it in the BBC.

If its the floor I will chuck it unless I can rinse it (i.e. a piece of fruit like an apple you just wash it again).

I agree no second rule would be more accurate. I saw a programme where this virologist dropped food on the floor then tested it for bacteria within five seconds and found in every case the food was instantly contaminated and should not be eaten.

 

[contango]

My youngest (aged 8) dropped a piece of chocolate on the floor. Saw what she had done and picked it up saying "Five Second Rule" and put it in her mouth.

Five Second Rule -Its safe to eat it if it has not been on the floor for 5 seconds. I told her that contamination can happen immediately.

Does anyone else practice the Five Second Rule? Also is your behaviour different if people are watching?

It depends on what the item is and where it fell. If it fell in the corner of the floor that doesn't get cleaned as often, it goes in the bin. If it's soft or sticky and picked up hairs or something from the floor, it may get rinsed off but will probably go in the bin.

If it's something like a boiled sweet that isn't sticky and I can grab it quickly chances are I'll still use it.

If I'm entertaining and something falls on the floor there's no way it's going on a guest's plate. I'd probably throw it away just to avoid any doubt in their minds that they might have got the bit that fell on the floor.

 

[Liberasit]

My youngest (aged 8) dropped a piece of chocolate on the floor. Saw what she had done and picked it up saying "Five Second Rule" and put it in her mouth.

Five Second Rule -Its safe to eat it if it has not been on the floor for 5 seconds. I told her that contamination can happen immediately.

Does anyone else practice the Five Second Rule? Also is your behaviour different if people are watching?

We practise "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" and "waste not want not".

 

[Lotuspetal_uk]

I practice the OCD-meets-the-Matrix rule especially with 3 cats and a toddler.

MC drops some food where a cat had just been sitting. Between 0-5 seconds he is picking the food up to put into his mouth.

Somehow my mind goes blank during this time frame and everything moves in slow motion. The next thing I'd typically remember is that the toddler looks confused staring at an empty hand, I'm frantically wiping said empty hand with a wet wipe and one of the cats looks disappointed that they didn't get a look in for some dropped food.

There's too many things on vets websites for my household to adopt any kind of 5 second rule.

 

[Gadarene]

the NOPE second rule in your case

 

[Lotuspetal_uk]

the NOPE second rule in your case

Indeed