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The 5-Second Rule Investigated

Posted by timothy on from the thought-it-was-3-seconds dept.

j-beda writes "Here is an interesting report on a student project about the 5-second rule: ' If You Drop It, Should You Eat It? Scientists Weigh In on the 5-Second Rule.' 'According to Clarke, a senior at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences, the 5-second rule dates back to the time of Genghis Khan, who first determined how long it was safe for food to remain on a floor when dropped there. Khan had slightly lower standards, however; he specified 12 hours, more or less.' How long can you safely leave dropped food on the floor before picking it up to eat? You know you've always wanted to have the definitive answer ..."

112 comments

  1. Why subscribe... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    when the latest stories show up in Old Stories first?

  2. First... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    5-second post.

  3. Findings don't just apply to floors by tessaiga · · Score: 5, Funny

    Among Clarke's findings:

    --Cookies and candy are much more likely to be picked up and eaten than cauliflower or broccoli.

    I find the same thing applies to cookies and candies on plates too.
    --
    The bold print giveth, and the fine print taketh away ...
  4. Depends on the floor by Bishop923 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I don't really follow the five second rule as much as I follow the "Would I want to eat off this surface at -any- time." rule. Something falls on the otherwise clean kitchen floor, I'll probably pick it up and eat it. Something falls on the utility room floor near the litter box... I'll probably shit-can it.

    Simple and apparently effective, at least I can't verify that I have gotten sick from it yet.

    1. Re:Depends on the floor by A55M0NKEY · · Score: 2, Insightful
      I totally agree. There MIGHT be some deadly germ anywhere, but probably not unless you are in a particularly dirty area where there is lots of food for bacteria. I eat wild plants like strawberrys without washing them, I'd eat a sandwich that fell on the lawn, or on a rock outside unless there was sand around. ( I hate eating sand... )

      As for the 5 second rule, who cares, once it falls on the surface, it's contaminated. But EVERYTHING in life is contaminated with something. Do I think I'll get sick from it? Depends on the surface...

      I've eaten cold pizza from a box on my counter 36 or more hours since buying it. The same beer that makes one forget to refrigerate their pizza tends to kill anything that may have grown on it in the meantime if drunk at the same time the leftovers are consumed. I'm fairly confident that floor microbes are suceptible to beer sterilization as well.

      Dog slobber is harmless too, unless you just caught them eating out of the cat box and can smell it on their breath. Potato chips are fine after the dog sniffed them but turned up his nose. Dog tongues are useful wound cleansers and scab abraiders too. Skin you knee? It'll heal twice as fast and with less scarring if you let your dog lick off the scab every day or every other day.

      Brie that has been sitting in the window sill for days and is growing white fur is an unknown. I ate some of that assuming the white fur was just more of the 'crust' and did get mildly sick, though it may have been from other causes.

      I've heard that green bread is OK to eat. Have accidentally eaten moldy bread. It tasted so gross I almost puked on the spot. No ill affects afterward though.

      Olives, black and green, as well as pickles are good to eat when sitting out for days in a bowl if there is liquid in the bowl. Olives, are good even if there is no liquid as they shrivel and dry to chewy raisin like things. Dried pickles sound too gross to try.

      Cheetos. I never eat cheeze puffs until they are good and stale. MMMMMM chewy like real cheeze instead of all crunchy and gross..

      --

      Eat at Joe's.

  5. I use the five hair rule by karmavore · · Score: 5, Funny

    I have a dog, four cats a wife two daughters and a niece. If it comes off the ground with more than 5 hairs or if a hair is more than 5 inches it's no good.

    --
    Speech: Free
    Beer: $699.00
  6. Only One Suprise, Guess At The 12 Hour Rule by MBCook · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Women are more likely than men to eat food that's been on the floor

    That's the one that really suprises me. The rest make sense in some way. This is the only one that I was suprised at. I would expect men would be more likely, equal at worst.

    As for the 12 hour rule, gross! Of course, they didn't know about bacteria or microbes, or such so I guess as far as they saw, there was no reason not to eat the food off then floor unless the floor was quite visibly dirty or some such. The 12 hour part probably has more to do with the food being found by ants and flies than anything else.

    --
    Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
    1. Re:Only One Suprise, Guess At The 12 Hour Rule by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Remember, the 12 hour rule was devised by the same people that used to put raw meat under their saddle, then ride all day, to tenderize it.

    2. Re:Only One Suprise, Guess At The 12 Hour Rule by skwirlmaster · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Perhaps a "average" woman's floor is clearner than the average man's. The before mentioned would-I-eat-off-this-floor rule comes into play.
      My experience (at least in high school and college) that my buddies floors were quite unsanitariy.

      --
      My inner self is ineffable, so don't eff with me.
    3. Re:Only One Suprise, Guess At The 12 Hour Rule by Darth_Burrito · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Women are more likely than men to eat food that's been on the floor

      That mildly shocked me as well. I wonder what the margin was and how they arrived at these conclusions. It's pretty easy to imagine an 18 year old high school senior named Jillian adversly affecting the results of her experiements if they were conducted improperly. What I mean is, there's a lot of guys out there that wouldn't eat off any floor in front of a young attractive girl, especially when their behavior was the subject of said study.

      Then again, it might make sense in that men are generally less familiar with the preparation of food than women generally are. Men might simply be more naive with respect to what happens to food before they eat it, and therefore afford it a higher level of purity than it actually has. Also, of the men and women I know, men are more likely to purchase prepackaged foods like tv dinners or the ever glorious hot pockets. There is a certain notion of sterility in a plastic wrapped entree that contact with the floor negates.

    4. Re:Only One Suprise, Guess At The 12 Hour Rule by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Women are more likely than men to eat food that's been on the floor

      <sexist> Well, they are the ones who know how long it's been since the floor was cleaned properly. </sexist>

    5. Re:Only One Suprise, Guess At The 12 Hour Rule by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd posit that about any unattended female's kitchen floor (unattended = no man in the house) will probably be the pits. The single women kitchens I've seen so far were far worse than mine and I, male A.C, feel ashamed when people see it. There's one older lady somewheres around 45 I screw vigorously without a condom but where I always order pizza or bring takeaway food. I know that's crazy but hey.. for me it's one hell of a turnon to bang away with that obviously deranged women I wouldn't be surprised to find out about she's posessed by a host of demons. Thinking about having sex with her tonight amid a clutter of half-empty beer bottles, pizza cartons and some takeaway chinese food we spilled the other week and the dog didn't want.. oh boy.. gotta fight down this raging hardon, I just can't wait until tonight...

    6. Re:Only One Suprise, Guess At The 12 Hour Rule by hplasm · · Score: 1
      Women are more likely than men to eat food that's been on the floor

      As men are less likely to tell them that it fell on the floor....

      --
      ...and he grinned, like a fox eating shit out of a wire brush.
    7. Re:Only One Suprise, Guess At The 12 Hour Rule by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Men might simply be more naive with respect to what happens to food before they eat it, and therefore afford it a higher level of purity than it actually has.

      I can't speak for how you prepare your food, but mine is generally cooked for more than 2 seconds and goes straight from pot or wok to clean plates. Of course there are evil creatures on clean plates as they are exposed to air and perhaps some parts of a plate rack, but nowhere near the number of microbes on a typical floor.

    8. Re:Only One Suprise, Guess At The 12 Hour Rule by Darth_Burrito · · Score: 1

      I can't speak for how you prepare your food, but mine is generally cooked for more than 2 seconds and goes straight from pot or wok to clean plates

      Actually, most of my food isn't cooked at all. Go read through this and see if, using your current preparation methods, you still think it makes a big difference if your food hits the ground. Do you use a wooden cutting board? Ever let things thaw outside of refrigeration? Ever have eggs a little runny? When you reheat something like pizza, do you cook it long enough and at a high enough temperature to kill everything?

      Another good point is do you ever eat out? I used to work at a four star french restaurant whose kitchen was anything but clean. I've also eaten at a number of restaurants that were later closed for health violations.

      We regularly eat food that has been in more perilous places than our floors. If I'm making a salad and a cherry tomato pops out onto the floor, I'm gonna pick that up, run it under the faucet (for what very little good that does), and then I'm gonna eat it.

  7. 5 seconds? Disgusting by Dancin_Santa · · Score: 3, Funny

    Everyone knows it's the 3-second rule.

  8. Re:I use the five hair rule by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    lol. Oh how I wish I had the mod points to help this comment out.

    --MBCook

  9. Mmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...floor pie.

  10. Nasty.... by reaper20 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I worked as a line cook for 3 years during high school and another 4 while I attended college. I have _never_ met a cook that abided by this rule.

    You might want to, as much as we all now want to go BOFH on every person we know, but in the end, our family and friends eat there, and what's the extra 5 minutes?

    One thing I've learned from doing both tech and "hard labor" while I was younger is: professionalism is professionalism. That cook doesn't want you eating that nasty steak more than a professional programmer wants his unfinished project to be released early.

    1. Re:Nasty.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Also, the threat of having their license revoked for such a dumb thing as that probably contributes to their unwillingness to bend the rules a little.

    2. Re:Nasty.... by Henry+V+.009 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Where the hell did you work? The more usual experience is that when the big slab of meat falls to the ground, it's fine once the crushed roaches get scraped off.

    3. Re:Nasty.... by frankjr · · Score: 1

      Maybe not the cook, but definitely the manager ;) My grandma used to work at Quincy's and one time a customer was pissed off because his steak was a little too bloody for him. The manager threw the steak on the floor (which was so disgusting that they literally "skated" on it) and cooked his steak a little longer.

      Remember, if you want _clean_ food, don't piss off the manager!

    4. Re:Nasty.... by sporktoast · · Score: 3, Funny
      Where the hell did you work?
      My experience was that when a slab of meat hit the floor, the call went out on the line to hold it for the next shmoe who asked for his steak to be well done.

      I am a vegetarian these days.

      --
      In a related story, the IRS has recently ruled that the cost of Windows upgrades can NOT be deducted as a gambling loss.
    5. Re:Nasty.... by Feztaa · · Score: 1

      hold it for the next shmoe who asked for his steak to be well done.

      I actually don't see a problem with that, as long as it's re-cooked. If it was only on the floor for a second, you scrape the dirt off, and the recooking kills all the germs and bacteria.

    6. Re:Nasty.... by linzeal · · Score: 3, Funny

      This is too true. We did the same thing for pizza that did not hit the floor, we had a sexy sounding girl convince drunk college students that they wanted whatever was ordered and could not be delivered or paid for.

      --
      An Education is the Font of All Liberty
    7. Re:Nasty.... by MrHanky · · Score: 1

      I was a cook in the army. That's something else, of course. If something fell on the floor, it went to the Officers' Mess (pun not intended, although it could have been). Some of those morons actually believed they got finer food than the lowly foot soldiers, since they, after all, were Officers. Actually, the food was far better in the army than it was at home (and better than it is in your home, too!), so we never had any complaints. And if we spilled soup, we through it away. Yes, we showed the officers some respect.

    8. Re:Nasty.... by bpowell423 · · Score: 1

      nitpick... threw not through. We threw it away.

    9. Re:Nasty.... by MrHanky · · Score: 1

      Heh, sorry. I've got a terrible flu. It's a mistake I normally wouldn't do, since English is only my second language (I think it's easier to make that kind of mistake for someone who learnt English speech before writing -- take for instance all those who write 'Here, here!' when they obviously mean 'Hear, hear!'; those words, like 'through' and 'threw' are pronounced very differently in my native language (Norwegian)).

    10. Re:Nasty.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You didn't say, as a line cook, if you never or always reused dropped food....

    11. Re:Nasty.... by BlondeNyko · · Score: 1

      I admit I did my time at good 'ole Mcidees in my HS days. Meat hit the floor - it was discarded. My point is more disgusting than the 5 Sec Rule. Next to watch is HOW long those Bic Macs stay in the warmer. 10 minutes is the time table, but we have all had 1 burger in our life where a day old dried out one shows up our to go bag. HINT: Special Order all your fast food :o)

      --
      "Gray Matters"
  11. Student life by E_elven · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'd be happy to eat off the floor, if I had a floor or food, you insensitive clod!

    --
    Marxist evolution is just N generations away!
    1. Re:Student life by Mawbid · · Score: 1
      Thanks. I'm a little sleep deprived and that totally cracked me up.

      Now I just need to find a good OOG THE CAVEMAN post :-)

      --
      Fuck the system? Nah, you might catch something.
  12. And why suffer the slashdot effect... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    when unslashdotted stories show up in Yesterday's Edition?

  13. More importantly, by schmaltz · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If somebody else is there and witnesses the food item's descent and impact, does that affect your decisionmaking, regardless of 5 seconds or 12 hours?

    --
    Big Daddy, Johnny, Burp, Aunt Zelda, Scott, Slurp, Big Momma ... where's Siggy?
    1. Re:More importantly, by linzeal · · Score: 1
      With the women I have been dating let's see.

      Lori-stunted intellectual (marijuanna impaired)
      She would fall to the floor and eat it off it, than giggle like a mad genius.

      Cathy-Super mother of 2 with a penchant for eating something new every time I saw her.
      She would shit can it, and than drive 20 miles to an obscure ethnic place and get something else.

      Jennifer-Meth Addict (nuf said)
      She would use it as an excuse not to eat.

      Joy-Current love of my life
      I would not let her eat it, I might though. I want her to be around for awhile.

      --
      An Education is the Font of All Liberty
    2. Re:More importantly, by aeinome · · Score: 1

      I would think so. It could even affect your actual food consumption- not everyone is going to wait 12 hours.

      --
      When you don't have a leg to stand on, don't even get up.
  14. Not the floor by Alethes · · Score: 4, Funny

    It depends on much more important factors than the cleanliness of the floor:

    1) How hungry I am
    2) How good the food is
    3) How able I am to replace the food I dropped

    Health be damned!

    1. Re:Not the floor by nomel · · Score: 2, Interesting

      For me, the stickyness of the food plays a big role also. If it's something like an M&M, chances are I'm going to eat it even after several minutes. If it's sweet and sour pork...that's a different matter.

  15. um, yuck by dh003i · · Score: 1

    The minute something falls on the floor, it's no longer suitable eating material in my opinion. Do you know how many bacteria, yeast, and fungus are on the floor? Your really eating foot-fungus when you eat something that just fell on the floor. Yuck yuck yuck.

    --
    social sciences can never use experience to verify their statemen
    1. Re:um, yuck by pauljlucas · · Score: 4, Informative
      Do you know how many bacteria, yeast, and fungus are on the floor? Your really eating foot-fungus when you eat something that just fell on the floor.
      Do you know how many bacteria, yeast, and fungus, not to mention dried snot from people wiping their noses, are on handrails, doornobs, and kitchen counters? You're really just eating everything that hands have touched (unless you are religious about washing your hands before eating, and not touching anything else while eating).
      --
      If you reply, do so only to what I explicitly wrote. If I didn't write it, don't assume or infer it.
    2. Re:um, yuck by Alizarin+Erythrosin · · Score: 5, Funny

      That would explain this case of athlete's stomach...

      --
      There are only 10 kinds of people in this world... those who understand binary and those who don't
    3. Re:um, yuck by vericgar · · Score: 5, Informative

      Actually, if you had read the article, they were surprised at how little of that stuff really was on the floor....

    4. Re:um, yuck by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      personally it's the hair and dust that bothers me.

      yuck..

      but then again.. at parts of my tables theres the same problem.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    5. Re:um, yuck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I like that posting what was in the article is moderated "informative."

    6. Re:um, yuck by Anemomenous+Cowherd · · Score: 0

      You just need to eat some tasty tasty Lamisil cream. Mmmmm!

    7. Re:um, yuck by Mysticalfruit · · Score: 1

      Well, just take a look at your cat over there licking itself "clean"... Cat's aren't clean... they are just covered in cat spit... With that said, my cat curls up with my happily ever night.

      --
      Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.
    8. Re:um, yuck by HaveNoMouth · · Score: 1

      Good point. People's hands are filthy--usually much filthier than floors. That's is the main reason this stuff seems to keep happening.

    9. Re:um, yuck by misterpies · · Score: 1


      >>You're really just eating everything that hands have touched.

      I guess they haven't discovered cutlery in your part of the world yet

      --
      The author of this post asserts his moral rights.
    10. Re:um, yuck by pauljlucas · · Score: 1
      I guess they haven't discovered cutlery in your part of the world yet
      Most people, probably yourself included, eat hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, french fries, appetizers in general, and lots of other finger-food with (guess what) your fingers.
      --
      If you reply, do so only to what I explicitly wrote. If I didn't write it, don't assume or infer it.
    11. Re:um, yuck by misterpies · · Score: 1


      My comment was intended as a joke (everyone eats with their fingers occasionally), but in fact you've just proved my point. You regard fast food, eaten with your fingers, as the norm. I regard it as the exception, to be done only when there's no alternative. You should get out of America more. There are some cultures where eating anything with your fingers is taboo - I remember being amazed seeing Chinese eat shell & eat a crab entirely using chopstick, when it would be far easier to use fingers.

      --
      The author of this post asserts his moral rights.
    12. Re:um, yuck by pauljlucas · · Score: 1
      You regard fast food, eaten with your fingers, as the norm.
      And you didn't heed my sig. I never wrote that and you incorrectly assumed it. I merely gave fast-food examples that Joe Sixpack could relate to. Most people eat brie or caviar (on crackers) with their fingers as well.
      There are some cultures where eating anything with your fingers is taboo
      That doesn't make it either right, practical, or rational.
      I remember being amazed seeing Chinese eat shell & eat a crab entirely using chopstick [sic], when it would be far easier to use fingers
      Proves my point. Irrational taboos of other cultures don't interest me and can't be used a a justifaction for some action.
      --
      If you reply, do so only to what I explicitly wrote. If I didn't write it, don't assume or infer it.
    13. Re:um, yuck by misterpies · · Score: 1

      And you didn't heed my sig. I never wrote that and you incorrectly assumed it.

      You wrote that "most people" eat such foods with their fingers. To me that's the same as writing that you regard it as normal, since "normal" is pretty much defined as that which most people do. Are you suggesting that if you wrote "I ate a hamburger today", I would be wrong to assume or infer that you're not a vegetarian?

      I merely gave fast-food examples that Joe Sixpack could relate to.

      I'm touched by your concern that Joe Sixpack should be able to relate to your slashdot posts, though I doubt he's even heard of slashdot. But Joe Sixpack does not, never has and never will represent "most people" on this planet.

      Most people eat brie or caviar (on crackers) with their fingers as well.

      Well it's about time someone told Joe Sixpack to eat caviar from a mother-of-pearl spoon. Putting it on a cracker is a waste of caviar.

      --
      The author of this post asserts his moral rights.
  16. Deep Fry It by Samus · · Score: 2, Insightful

    In some resturaunts if it falls on the floor it just gets deep fried for a few seconds. I think you can deep fry just about anything...

    --
    In Republican America phones tap you.
    1. Re:Deep Fry It by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can't deep fry water, but I'd like to see you try.

    2. Re:Deep Fry It by richie2000 · · Score: 4, Funny
      In some resturaunts if it falls on the floor it just gets deep fried for a few seconds. I think you can deep fry just about anything...

      I just want to know how they get the floor to fit in the fryer.

      --
      Money for nothing, pix for free
    3. Re:Deep Fry It by Eclypser · · Score: 0

      With this deep fryer I can flash fry a buffalo in 30 seconds. But I bet you want it now, don't you?

      --
      The comment has already been made. Let's move it along people. Nothing to see here.
  17. Haiku by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    When I drop my meat
    Bacteria get to eat
    And I move to pie

  18. Lousy Experiment by Red+Pointy+Tail · · Score: 4, Funny

    Taking samples of 1 square inch and monitoring it for microbes and spores? What a lousy experiment.

    What they should do is to hire 500 students to continually drop food and candy on the floor, pick it up again for consumption, and then monitor their well-being over the course of many weeks. Those wimps ;)

  19. Is Big Brother watching? by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 1

    I just had this happen yesterday. Man I should have subscribed or sommething because I could have sworn the rule was 10 seconds.

    1. Re:Is Big Brother watching? by MattCohn.com · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I abide by the 10 minute rule. Not as long as 12 hours, but if something hits the floor it's going to be as dirty in 5 seconds as it will be in 10 minutes.

    2. Re:Is Big Brother watching? by dmatos · · Score: 1

      While at university, my roommates and I had a variation of this rule as well. "Can you remember when it hit the floor? Yes? Okay, eat it."

      I contest that eating non-lethal doses of contaminants has increased my resistance to them. I tell myself that that's why my mum let me eat dirt as a kid.

      --

      It may look like I'm doing nothing, but I'm actively waiting for my problems to go away.
      --Scott Adams
  20. Re:I use the five hair rule by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny
    Double Tard.
    You had to be crude, but then you couldn't even do it right.

    He's bragging that he's surrounded by all that pussy.

    That way you include the cats.

  21. bacteria by schnits0r · · Score: 2, Informative

    People think this whole bacteria on the floor tihng is disgusting. We have stomach acid, and various immune devices in our bodies. I'm not worried about properly cooked food hitting the ground. IT gives my immune system a work out. It's eat something that fell out of my hands at a sidewalk cafe in Bangeledesh!

    --


    -------
    Support Indy Music. Buy
    1. Re:bacteria by core+plexus · · Score: 2, Funny
      I think it's sometimes overblown, but I grew up on a farm. Sometimes after turning over cow patties looking for bugs, I'd find a carrot or pick some berries or something and eat it. If I had bothered to wash my hands, it was in the same pond the cows and other animals drank from and pissed in. I'm betting not only did it 'cure' me of the croup, but it also made me resistant later on.

      On the other hand, now if food hits the floor, or even the counter sometimes, I just let the dogs have it, unless it's something that can be washed and recooked real quick.

      -cp-

    2. Re:bacteria by RobertB-DC · · Score: 3, Funny

      I think it's sometimes overblown, but I grew up on a farm. Sometimes after turning over cow patties looking for bugs, I'd find a carrot or pick some berries or something and eat it.

      How nice! The fresh fruit and berries must have gone well with your bugs.

      obDisclaimer: I live in the country now, and the kids and I love finding interesting and unusual bugs.

      --
      Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
  22. Especially in Chem Lab by luekj · · Score: 3, Funny
    I mean, five seconds in Hydrochloric acid. That will just make it even cleaner, right?

    Or at least take some of the load off my poor stomach.....

    --
    Many Thanks,

    Luke

  23. Re:5 seconds? Disgusting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I agree. Who came up with this 5 second mumbo jumbo?

  24. so how long does it take? by Mr.Coffee · · Score: 5, Funny

    I , for one, am outraged! the article stated that the E.coli bacteria transferred to the gummy bears in 5 seconds, but they didn't do any testing to see what the minimal time for safety was. how am i supposed to know how long that cookie is still good for?

    --
    Cogito Eggo Sum, I think therefore I'm a waffle
  25. fourty-one fourty by annisette · · Score: 2, Insightful

    At or below 40 degrees F and at or above 140 degrees F is considered to be the safe zone for storing or serving food items, safe from creating a growth medium for germs and bacteria. the inbetween temps F is the danger zone for growth of said critters. This is the standard for food safty in the hospitality industry. So go figure, what was the temp of the food dropped and the temp of what it was dropped on. but then only 5 seconds, well, more or less absolute rejection would be if it was dropped on the beach.

    --
    I eat my grapes at room temperature, cuz the cold ones hurt my teeth
  26. I'm stickin with it by Stubtify · · Score: 4, Funny

    if you have e. coli on your floors the 5 second rule is the least of your worries.

    1. Re:I'm stickin with it by GusCubed · · Score: 3, Informative

      You have e.coli in your intestines, are you going to worry about that too?

      Escherisha Coli is considered part of normal gut flora (Coli - refers to where it was first 'discovered' - the human colon). Some variants of e.coli are harmful though - but these are normally outcompeted by the usually benign resident population of e.coli.

      If you don't have a resident population of e.coli - you in trouble.

      --
      =#= Man, you are such a loser! Why can't you be an individual, like the rest of us?
    2. Re:I'm stickin with it by GodsMadClown · · Score: 0

      Doesn't the E. stand for Enterobacter? Isn't entero some sort of Greek root for guts or bowels?

    3. Re:I'm stickin with it by Josh+Booth · · Score: 1

      No, but E. Coli is supposed to be in your intestine. When it gets out, it can be really harmful. I'm not sure, but I think it can get out by feces. So, it would be undoubtably bad if your floor is covered in feces, and you probably wouldn't eat something on that floor, 5 second rule or not.

    4. Re:I'm stickin with it by GusCubed · · Score: 1

      Nah, Escherisha (or eschericha - can't remember fizzackly) definitely.

      Finally, a use for my MicroBiology degree

      --
      =#= Man, you are such a loser! Why can't you be an individual, like the rest of us?
    5. Re:I'm stickin with it by Zillatron · · Score: 2, Funny
      You have e.coli in your intestines, are you going to worry about that too?

      O.K. you got me there. I promise if I drop a cookie into my intestine, I won't be putting it back into my mouth.

      No matter what

      --
      Hey!!! the parentheses are good for something
  27. Good for you! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My friend...

    You have real class , thank you for putting that cretin in it's place.

  28. HEY! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You must have worked at the same Taco Bell as I did!

  29. 5 second rule? by Kowh · · Score: 5, Funny

    The five second rule is stricted enforced around here. In fact, usually we don't even get all five seconds. Any dropped food instantly becomes property of the canine clean-up service, and they don't take kindly to "take-backs".

    Or rather they do, but they look at you with puppy dog eyes and you're forced to drop the food again.

  30. I'm a waiter! by Illysook · · Score: 1

    I thought that the five second rule only applied to silverware. I.E. one is setting 500 tables for a social function and drops a fork, does one pick it up and put it at a place setting. You're damned right they do! Sometimes it gets wiped off with a damp napkin first, but not always!

  31. And fluids? by neglige · · Score: 1

    What about coffee? Depending on my craving, it may have been on the floor for several minutes. After that, it begins to dry out and becomes solid anyway (after a time). Then the 5 second rule applies again...

    BTW, I (and my co-worker) are two of those 44% that have never heard of that rule before.

    --
    My cats ate my karma. They also wrote this comment.
  32. Depends on where you stand by tsa · · Score: 3, Funny

    If you stand in the middle of a busy highway then 5 seconds might be way too long.

    --

    -- Cheers!

  33. Re:I use the five hair rule by phagstrom · · Score: 1

    With cats in the house I suspect the same rule applies to your dinner plate...

  34. Re:I use the five hair rule by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Five inch hairs are no problem. It's the crinkly curly ones that put me off. And the ones with a big chunk of skin on the end.

  35. Cookies and candy by dpilot · · Score: 1

    Well obviously you can "disconfect" cookies and candy by blowing on them after picking them off of the floor.

    --
    The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
  36. Not true about Genghis Khan by mnmn · · Score: 3, Interesting

    As a direct descendent, I second that claim about Genghis Khan's rule. It is really 0 seconds here. My grandmother (born in the 1920s) and other elders in the tribal areas never advise eating anything that has been dropped on the ground. An exception is where you can slice off the section of the food that has touched the ground or peel it off.

    In Hazarajat part of Afghanistan, Mongols have remained rather unchanged over the centuries (having descended from Genghis's army), including culture, race and a large part of the language. It is still quite possible this 'rule' changed over time.

    --
    "Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." -Nim Chimpsky
  37. Where I come from by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    the 5 second rule means is it takes longer than 5 seconds to make it, serve it anyways.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  38. "It goes into a pit of acid" by spineboy · · Score: 1
    That's what a co-surgical resident said after picking up and eating a Sweet-Tart that he just dropped off the Trauma room floor, in Newark NJ. I watched him for about 30 seconds, expecting him to start having instantaneous violent diarrhea and vomiting......But nothing happened.

    I guess he was right. I mean hey, look at dogs - they eat their own poop half the time and the worst thing that happens is that they barf up some grass that they just chewed.

    People are much more squeemish than they need to be.

    --
    ..........FULL STOP.
    1. Re:"It goes into a pit of acid" by Josh+Booth · · Score: 1

      As long as they mopped the floor afterwards. That's why I don't like the smell of hospitals. It's all those microorganisms that give air flavor and life.

    2. Re:"It goes into a pit of acid" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      sorry, moderated as "redundant" by accident, instead of "interesting" -- posting to make that go away

    3. Re:"It goes into a pit of acid" by UCRowerG · · Score: 1

      i thought that was from all those cleaners and disinfectants.

    4. Re:"It goes into a pit of acid" by bobtheowl2 · · Score: 1

      I'd be more afraid of eating something of a floor that has just been mopped with something containing bleach or disinfectant than I would off a 'dirty' floor.

      As my mom said: Dirt don't hurt

  39. Trash Cookies! by Ryan+Stortz · · Score: 1

    Marge: I just made this whole batch of christmas cookies, but since you're not believing in god I guess I'll just throw them away. *Bart walks in. Bart: ALRIGHT! Trash Cookies! *Bart starts eating cookies Bart: Uh oh, I think I just ate a dog food can lid.

    --
    Bugs are just features that have been fixed.
  40. It's good on the first bounce! by Ryan+Stortz · · Score: 1

    In highschool we had variations of this rule. It really mattered if you had the first lunch or the second lunch. If you had the first lunch, 5 seconds would be kinda risky, if it was second lunch it'd be a death wish. Normally we'd say it's good if you catch it on the first bounce, otherwise you're plain crazy. :)

    --
    Bugs are just features that have been fixed.
    1. Re:It's good on the first bounce! by Baikala · · Score: 1

      Your food bouced? Several times?! What the hell was served in your highschool?

      --
      16,777,216 comments ought to be enough for any forum!
  41. Stinky Meat by jbarr · · Score: 4, Insightful

    For a truely (almost) scientific look at what happens when you leave food out, check out the Stinky Meat Project.

    Not for the faint of heart...

    --
    My mom always said, "Jim, you're 1 in a million." Given the current population, there are 7000 of me. God help us all!
  42. Where I am from.... by El_Rancho · · Score: 1

    ...the 5 (or 10) second rule is interpreted as "after 5 seconds at rest on the floor, dropped food becomes fair game for whoever may claim it." E.G., drop a donut, and you have 5 seconds to pick it up before others assume that you don't want it. Have I been living a lie?

  43. Billy the Beef Tallow Boy! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hey-hey Billy, can you deep-fry the Buick?
    Well, all right, but he'll probably pu-ick!

  44. The ancients never reused food by jkorty · · Score: 1

    Homer's Odyssey, I believe, mentions in passing that dropped food was defiled food. I imagine you could be executed for reusing dropped food (if a servant) or become shunned or exiled if a member of the upper class. Either seems like an appropriate punishment to me:)

  45. it's still a big fat yuck by dh003i · · Score: 1

    and PS, I wash my hands with 70% Ethanol (which is ideal for sterilization) before I prepare food or eat.

    --
    social sciences can never use experience to verify their statemen
    1. Re:it's still a big fat yuck by pauljlucas · · Score: 1
      I wash my hands with 70% Ethanol (which is ideal for sterilization) before I prepare food or eat.
      Don't forget to wash your hands again after you grab the salt shaker or pepper mill after lots of other people have grabbed it.
      --
      If you reply, do so only to what I explicitly wrote. If I didn't write it, don't assume or infer it.
  46. Re:I use the five hairs rule by gibber · · Score: 2, Funny
    I have three cats, a wife and periodic guests and visitors. I generally use the same rule. I have, however, one important addendum:
    • No short, thick, curly hairs.
  47. Havent they also found that... by KillerBob · · Score: 1

    Haven't they also found that people who were exposed to more bacteria in growing up tend not to grow up into the people with 50 life-threatening allergies?

    Maybe eating the bacteria is a good thing, folks. That which does not kill you makes you stronger...

    --
    If you believe everything you read, you'd better not read. - Japanese proverb
  48. not a problem, by dh003i · · Score: 1

    since there are these modern things called *forks* and *knives*. And since I eat at home, and don't eat the sorry excuse for food they serve at fast-food restuarants.

    --
    social sciences can never use experience to verify their statemen
  49. Newsletter Hosting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Binhost Technologies, a newsletter hosting and mailing list hosting company, is my choice for hosting announcement lists.

  50. Herpes by ee_moss · · Score: 1

    If you eat something off the floor, you're more likely to get a case of foot-herpes in the mouth than anything else. I'd watch out.

  51. I never follow that rule... by vudufixit · · Score: 1

    If it's fallen on the floor, don't eat it. It's not even solely about food safety or germs. It's about not doing disgusting things in front of other people.

  52. Do you know.... by BobBoring · · Score: 1

    Do you know how many bacteria, yeast, and fungus are on the floor? Your really eating foot-fungus when you eat something that just fell on the floor. Yuck yuck yuck.

    Did you know the floor has fewer bacteria, yeasts and fungi than the inside of your mouth?

    Did you know urine from a healthy human has less bacteria, yeasts and fungi than the inside of your mouth?

    Did you know urine from a healthy human has antibiotic and antifungal properties and can be used to cure foot fungus?

    Did you know one of the causes of dermatitis (bacterial infection of the skin) is too frequent washing with harsh chemical cleaners like alcohol gels?

    Did you know that per square inch the floor in most households have fewer bacteria, yeasts and fungi than raw vegetables, fruits and nuts?

    Did you know most food contains tiny amounts of deadly neurotoxins created by bacterial growth?

    Did you know you should to look at where organic food comes from and exactly what 'organic fertilizer' means?

    Did you know you are being bombarded by k, l and m X-ray radiation streaming out of your monitor at this very second?

    Did you know more people are irrationally afraid of bacteria that is very unlikely to harm them than are afraid of cars that are more likely kill them?

  53. What to do? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm used to walk on my kitchen table but never tryed to have lunch in less than 5 seconds

  54. eating a fruit that's a little rotten by dh003i · · Score: 1

    Won't kill you, and won't even harm you. However, most people are disgusted by it and won't do it. Simply knowing facts does not make something that is disgusting somehow appealing. For example, the cartiledge on steak is not fat, and is hardly harmful to you; however, it is still disgusting.

    --
    social sciences can never use experience to verify their statemen
  55. 5 second rule is known to Americans only ? by llebegue · · Score: 1

    This 5 second rule is unknown where I live (France) If you drop food on the floor you just got to cook something else and never pick it back to eat it.

    Is this an american/english rule or is it only unknown in France ?

  56. Three Words: Deficient Immune System by angedinoir · · Score: 1

    I've noticed that people who are excessively clean tend to actually get sick more often than people who just don't care. Your body is "designed" (if I may take such a liberty) to deal with bacteria in a fairly efficient way.

    In the same way, people that try to avoid getting sick when the latest round of colds comes around is only making it worse for themselves. If you can catch a cold closely to the time after you got sick the last time, you probably won't even notice it, but it's that much longer until the next time you get really sick.

    Just eat up, if you die, then it's only proof that natural selection is working.