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It's a moment of truth: The food that you were just about to eat falls to the floor. You grab it as fast as you can, but...do you follow the "five-second rule" and go on to consume that food?

 

If you do, take heartβ€”health experts have recently explained that the "five-second rule" is a myth...well. Depending on which foods you drop.

 

Australia's Food Safety Information Council says that it's all about bacteriaβ€”those little guys seem to be big fans of moist, wet foods, but they're not so much into dry ones.

 

So if you drop something like meat or cheese, which both qualify as "wet," the chances of contamination of your food are likely higher than if you drop something dry (like chips or cookies).

 

Some of the bacteria that adhere to dropped foods may be benignβ€”but an estimated 48 million Americans get food poisoning each year...not all of those are due to eating food that's been dropped on the floor, of course, so it's good to think if that piece of spinach or pizza or bacon that fell on the floor is worth the possible risk.

 

Source: http://www.glamour.com/health-...;china_variant=False

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Originally Posted by Cinds:

I can't remember it all now, but I'm sure we used to say a little ditty about 'picking it up, rubbing it and showing it to god' which apparently made it ok to eat food off the floor. (I'm not sure whether this included peeling chewing gum off the floor when you were 5?). Not that I ever, EVER, did that. 

 

Good bye.

A peck of dirt never killed you was my mum's favourite ....and yes , I remember peeling chewing gum off the floor too Cinds  

Baz
Originally Posted by Baz:
Originally Posted by Cinds:

I can't remember it all now, but I'm sure we used to say a little ditty about 'picking it up, rubbing it and showing it to god' which apparently made it ok to eat food off the floor. (I'm not sure whether this included peeling chewing gum off the floor when you were 5?). Not that I ever, EVER, did that. 

 

Good bye.

A peck of dirt never killed you was my mum's favourite ....and yes , I remember peeling chewing gum off the floor too Cinds  

Oooh you dirty girl. I just suggested, I never said I did it.

Cinds
Originally Posted by Cinds:
Originally Posted by Baz:
Originally Posted by Cinds:

I can't remember it all now, but I'm sure we used to say a little ditty about 'picking it up, rubbing it and showing it to god' which apparently made it ok to eat food off the floor. (I'm not sure whether this included peeling chewing gum off the floor when you were 5?). Not that I ever, EVER, did that. 

 

Good bye.

A peck of dirt never killed you was my mum's favourite ....and yes , I remember peeling chewing gum off the floor too Cinds  

Oooh you dirty girl. I just suggested, I never said I did it.

Never one to waste a sweet , me  

Baz
Originally Posted by Baz:
Originally Posted by Cinds:
Originally Posted by Baz:
Originally Posted by Cinds:

I can't remember it all now, but I'm sure we used to say a little ditty about 'picking it up, rubbing it and showing it to god' which apparently made it ok to eat food off the floor. (I'm not sure whether this included peeling chewing gum off the floor when you were 5?). Not that I ever, EVER, did that. 

 

Good bye.

A peck of dirt never killed you was my mum's favourite ....and yes , I remember peeling chewing gum off the floor too Cinds  

Oooh you dirty girl. I just suggested, I never said I did it.

Never one to waste a sweet , me  

To be honest, me neither. 

 

I'm laughing thinking about it, it's so repulsive, but as a child who wasn't allowed sweets it's fair game. 

 

Believe it or not I saw my neighbours 4 yr old do it last summer & I was roaring laughing, the mother was mortified, but it got better because the child ran off and hid the chewing gum in his underpants (bum end) just to keep it from his Mam. 

Cinds
Originally Posted by Cinds:
Originally Posted by Baz:
Originally Posted by Cinds:
Originally Posted by Baz:
Originally Posted by Cinds:

I can't remember it all now, but I'm sure we used to say a little ditty about 'picking it up, rubbing it and showing it to god' which apparently made it ok to eat food off the floor. (I'm not sure whether this included peeling chewing gum off the floor when you were 5?). Not that I ever, EVER, did that. 

 

Good bye.

A peck of dirt never killed you was my mum's favourite ....and yes , I remember peeling chewing gum off the floor too Cinds  

Oooh you dirty girl. I just suggested, I never said I did it.

Never one to waste a sweet , me  

To be honest, me neither. 

 

I'm laughing thinking about it, it's so repulsive, but as a child who wasn't allowed sweets it's fair game. 

 

Believe it or not I saw my neighbours 4 yr old do it last summer & I was roaring laughing, the mother was mortified, but it got better because the child ran off and hid the chewing gum in his underpants (bum end) just to keep it from his Mam. 

Yes, I think sweets were still on ration when I was small

Baz
Originally Posted by Cinds:

Honestly, I was watching it all pan out & I was stifling the mirth so much, other neighbours were saying "what's the matter" but I couldn't speak for stifling the laughter.

I know ....I have to cover my face sometimes when my kids are berating my grandkids over this and that ....talk about what goes around ..... 

Baz
Originally Posted by Baz:
Originally Posted by Cinds:

Honestly, I was watching it all pan out & I was stifling the mirth so much, other neighbours were saying "what's the matter" but I couldn't speak for stifling the laughter.

I know ....I have to cover my face sometimes when my kids are berating my grandkids over this and that ....talk about what goes around ..... 

Awww   

FM
Originally Posted by Roger the Alien:
Originally Posted by Baz:
Originally Posted by Cinds:

Honestly, I was watching it all pan out & I was stifling the mirth so much, other neighbours were saying "what's the matter" but I couldn't speak for stifling the laughter.

I know ....I have to cover my face sometimes when my kids are berating my grandkids over this and that ....talk about what goes around ..... 

Awww   

There is a certain grim satisfaction attached Rosie  

Baz
Originally Posted by Baz:
Originally Posted by Roger the Alien:
Originally Posted by Baz:
Originally Posted by Cinds:

Honestly, I was watching it all pan out & I was stifling the mirth so much, other neighbours were saying "what's the matter" but I couldn't speak for stifling the laughter.

I know ....I have to cover my face sometimes when my kids are berating my grandkids over this and that ....talk about what goes around ..... 

Awww   

There is a certain grim satisfaction attached Rosie  

  Bahaha 

FM
Originally Posted by Rawky-Roo:

I didn't think anyone took the 5 second rule seriously. I just thought people used it as an excuse to not make themselves look skanky.

TBH, I sometimes wonder that myself. I never heard anyone talk about the "5 second rule" when I was growing up, and when I heard about it later on it was usually in reference to it being debunked. "MythBusters" did a piece on it years ago and they found that contamination (a) depends on the type of food and (b) can occur pretty-much instantaneously, 5 seconds can be a very long time in the context of bacterial infection...

Eugene's Lair

when eldest greyhound broke his claw, dropped blood eveywhere he walked-lisa used a jug, filled it with it with water/salt ...cleaned the blood up from the carpet

it was on his blanket, so i boil washed the blanket

 

next day she made a jelly & used the SAME jug

i like jelly but im not eating 'blood foot jelly'

 

nasty

 

so no 5sec rule for me is if its on the floor, the dogs can have it

pirate1111
Originally Posted by pirate1111:

when eldest greyhound broke his claw, dropped blood eveywhere he walked-lisa used a jug, filled it with it with water/salt ...cleaned the blood up from the carpet

it was on his blanket, so i boil washed the blanket

 

next day she made a jelly & used the SAME jug

i like jelly but im not eating 'blood foot jelly'

 

nasty

 

so no 5sec rule for me is if its on the floor, the dogs can have it

Rofl I don't blame you pirate !  

Baz

 

 

Having thought it through I would have said NO, no way would I eat anything off the floor, but, I realise that I have and do on the odd occasion.

 

Only in my home and not in the bathroom or kitchen, but if a piece of chocolate hits the floor I do pick it up and eat it. Mainly because chocolate as we all know has an antibacterial defence of around 1000 years, so I feel confident eating it. But no other foods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enthusiastic Contrafibularities

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