When children are young, they are constantly running around and dropping their food or pacifier and putting it back in their mouths. Moms run to take things from their mouth because its unsanitary, yet when we grow old and we drop food on the ground, we pick it up and eat it because of the 5-second rule. Germophobes will tell you to throw it away, but what’s right and what’s wrong?
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Jillian Clark, a student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign participated in a research apprenticeship where she tested the five second rule. She and her team placed food on the floor, such as gummy bears and cookies and examined the food and found that there were very few microorganisms.
Another study published in the Journal of Applied Microbiology tested the five-second rule again and found that the amount of bacteria transferred to food didn’t really depend much on how long the food was left on the contaminated surface. What matters is how dirty the patch of floor is and the type of surface it lands on. Surprisingly carpets are better places to drop food than wood or tile. Less than 1% of bacteria were transferred from a carpet that was inoculated with Salmonella. When food was dropped on tile or wood, 48-70% of bacteria came into contact.
When you think about how many people touch your food before it reaches your mouth, you’ll be surprised. There are so many forms of bacteria that can travel along the way, from people touching and handling food to airborne bacteria that travels along the way. The good news is that foodborne illnesses are not that serious. The best thing to do is to use common sense and handle food as carefully and as clean as possible to avoid the chances of contracting bacteria.