Five second rule

[Gnisy]

If a food has been on the floor for more than five seconds then you should not pick it up and put it in your mouth. How did this 'rule' come about, how true is this and is there anyone out there who does NOT follow it?

*Number of seconds may vary with parent.

[andy-hughes]

I've never heard it - ergo, I do not follow it.

It does depend on the food in question - if I drop a sweet or something non-sticky, I will pick it up and eat it without hesitation. If however it's going to bring a measure of dirt and fluff with it, then i will throw it in the bin.

I've watched all my girls pick things up and eat them as I've drawn breath to stop them, and none of us have come to any hardm, so unless the floor is filthy, I wouldn;t worry too much about it.

[CheekyChops]

Have to agree with andy-hughes, I've never heard of it either. I have picked things up from the floor and eaten them and never come to any harm (yet)!

[Lore]

I wouldn't eat anything that has fallen onto the floor - but that's just me being fussy.

The last Newcastle game I went to, a guy dropped his pie, it splattered a little on the floor ......another guy picked it up, passed it to him and he then continued to eat it. eeeeeeew!

firstly, it had been on the floor
secondly a total stranger had pawed it

I wonder if he survived?

[Grunty]

Years ago I knew a family with a multitude of unkempt children. The children could be seen eating leftover food from a nearby skip. Guess who were the only kids in the village who never seemed to be ill.

[CT]

I heard it was the three second rule from my mate. Apparently it's something to do with the germ transfer time once the food and surface are in contact. Not sure how accurate this is.

[simsfreq]

I've heard of the 5 second rule. Don't think it really works though! I suppose it is better if it's a shorter amount of time but it can get pretty mucky in a couple of seconds.

[oakleydoaky]

i think there is too much 'antibacterial' this and that. it's probably all this over emphasis on sterile conditions that has reduced our ability to fight 'germs'. i can speak from experience when i tell you that eating worms did me no harm when i was a child!

surely common sense says that the 'germs' will hitch a ride when there is contact (just like head lice do!)

[Clanad]

Been around the U.S. for years, understood here as a joke. Here's what Wikipedia has to say:
The five second rule is sometimes called the three-second rule, 10-second rule, or the 15-second rule, to some extent depending on the quality of the food involved or the intoxication level of the individual quoting the rule. For example, in American college dormitories the ten-second rule is often quoted as the "drunk version" of the five-second rule. In addition, there is the 17-minute rule, a humourous observation that the transferrence of dirt and germs takes place regardless of how short a time the food is in contact with the ground.

It is also widely believed that, in the home, the five-second rule can be extended to at most 15 seconds. In public places and restaurants, however, the amount of time is generally shortened.

In Brazil, people used to say o que n�o mata, engorda ("if it doesn't kill, it makes you fat") before eating something that has fallen on the floor. This applies also to Spanish speaking countries, lo que no mata, engorda, and in Italy, Quel che non ammazza, ingrassa. Obviously, the evocation doesn't mean much, because spoiled food can both "kill you" (do you harm) and make you fat. The Chilean version of this rule is chancho limpio no engorda ("A clean pig does not get fat"). In Southern Germany, the saying goes Dreck macht Speck ("Dirt makes bacon").
Seems sticky foods have agreatly shortened version of the rule than, say potato chips, etc...


A similar saying in Germany used the same way goes Dreck reinigt den Magen ("Dirt cleans the stomach").

[joko]

utter codswallop.

i saw a tv show called mythbusters on discovery channel where they 'busted' this myth. germs transfer instantly by touch.

they showed the same amount of germs on both items

[The Cowboy]

Also on that edition of Mythbusters they proved that there are more germs in a human mouth than there are in a dogs.

Cowboy

[gammaray]

That's true, but they're not all pathogens!

[vicalncraig]

Please tell me you dont work in an eatery!!!!!!!

[shaneystar2]

My Mum used to say "You have to eat a bucket of muck before you die" as she spat on her hanky and wiped my face or wiped a sweet off and gave it back to me to eat....we are all too over hygienic these days ,it's no wonder children pick up everything going. They have no antibodies to fight things and live in sterile homes where a speck of dust is seen as being the cause of deadly disease. When I was young (many moons ago) the dirtiest kids were never ill !!

[joko]

ha ha, don't know about eating a bucket of muck shaneystar, but I agree with what else you said.
I cannot stand over the top neatness. life is just too short.

I believe that breathing in all those cleaning products is much worse for us than a bit of dust!

I can never feel comfortable in someones house when they are clearly too fastidious.

i always think of hyacinth buckets poor neighbour! lol

[Toureman]

I would'nt eat anything that dropped on a cow pat even if it stayed there for a millisecond!

[Gnisy]

so we should eat whatever comes off the floor no matter how long it stayed there, to keep ourselves from getting ill. (Might have skipped a few levels there but .. ) Sounds like a good conclusion to me.

[Gnisy]

btw, I don't work in an eatery. and what's a codswallop??

[joko]

'tis a northern phrase, gnisy, basically means crap! lol