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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 ..."

4 of 112 comments (clear)

  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).
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  2. 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....

  3. 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!

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  4. 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.

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