A “five-second rule” (sometimes given as a “three-second rule") holds that if you pick up food within five seconds of it falling to the floor, that food is still safe to eat. Some people claim that the type of food is important to know (an apple or a pudding, for example), as is the general cleanliness of the floor where the food has fallen. Studies done in the 2000s indicate that germs attach immediately to the food and the “five-second rule” should be a “no-second rule” (food on the floor is unsafe to eat).
The names “five-second rule” and “three-second rule” have been cited in print since at least 2000, although the urban legend behind the rule has existed before 2000.
Wikipedia: Five-second rule
A common superstition, the five-second rule states that food dropped on the ground will not be contaminated with bacteria if it is picked up within five seconds of being dropped. Some may earnestly believe this assertion, whereas other people employ the rule as a polite social fiction that will allow them to still eat a lightly-contaminated piece of food, despite the potential reservations of their peers.
There are many variations on the rule. Sometimes the time limit is modified. In some variations, the person picking up the food arbitrarily extends the time limit based on the actual amount of time required to retrieve the food.
Ted Allen put the rule to the test in an episode of Food Detectives, and found that bacteria will cling to food immediately. High traffic areas will lead to even more bacteria on the food.
I Think Therefore I Am:
A Collection of My Thoughts
By Chad Kluck
New York, NY: Vantage Press, Inc.
“The Five Second Rule” states: If food is dropped, it shall not lie more than five seconds on the ground, after five seconds germs are allowed to infest the food. I never figured germs had the sense of time and so as soon as food is dropped, I assumed it was one for. Upon hearing this rule, I was happy because less of my food was wasted. I have used this rule several times with ice cream, suckers, hot dogs (there’s nothing on the ground that isn’t already in them), and popsicles.
Straight Dope Message Board
06-16-2000, 10:20 AM
My brother worked in a fast food joint. They used to serve breakfast until 10:30 and it never failed that at 10:29 they would have someone come through the drive-thru wanting biscuts and gravy after they had already put everything away. My brother told me that they would fix the biscuts and gravy for the person and they would spit in it beforehand. They also had a 3 second rule. If you dropped something on the floor, a hamburger, a bun, pickles, etc., if you picked it up off the floor within 3 seconds you could still use it. They counted awfully slow too.
Google Groups: rec.pets.dogs.breeds
Jul 17 2000
I, on the other hand, am firm believer in the “three second rule”—as long as you pick up food off the floor within three seconds it doesn’t count
Straight Dope Message Board
Five Second Rule?
11-20-2000, 03:09 AM
my general rule is that if it bounces, then it’s probably good to eat, with the where-it-landed variable in place.
Myth and Ritual in Women’s Detective Fiction
By Christine A. Jackson
Jefferson, NC: McFarland
An example is when the “five-second rule” comes into play. The premise goes something like this: the food is “still good” if it has been on the floor for less than five seconds. Considering how many pieces of cookie or candy have been dropped by little hands, children are most grateful for this rule.
Topic: The “five-second rule” for eating dropped food
posted 22 October, 2003 09:56 PM
...is just another urban myth, according to this Snopes article.
Posted 10/1/2004 9:14 PM Updated 10/4/2004 1:19 PM
‘Combover’ engineers given Ig Nobel awards
By Jay Lindsay, Associated Press Writer
The 14th annual Ig Nobel awards, handed out by Nobel Prize winners, recognize scientific research that “makes you laugh, then makes you think,” said Marc Abrahams, editor of the Annals of Improbable Research, which gives out the award.
The prizes were awarded in a rowdy ceremony Thursday night at Harvard University. Among the other recipients: the inventor of karaoke and a girl who investigated the validity of the “five-second rule” — commonly applied to dropped food.
New York (NY) Times
Q & A
The 5-Second Rule
By C. CLAIBORNE RAY
Published: February 28, 2011
Q. You know the five-second rule for dropped food? Is it really safe if you pick it up in time?
A. “The five-second rule probably should become the zero-second rule,” said Dr. Roy M. Gulick, chief of the division of infectious diseases at Weill Cornell Medical College. “Eating dropped food poses a risk for ingestion of bacteria and subsequent gastrointestinal disease, and the time the food sits on the floor does not change the risk.”
The Herald News (Fall River, MA)
Updated Jan 24, 2012 @ 10:45 AM
A Five Second Lesson about the Five Second Rule
Anyway, in a recent news report, scientists REFUTED the Five Second Rule.
In the Journal of Applied Microbiology, which is something I routinely read for fun, a study was published that showed that salmonella and other bacteria can live up to four weeks on dry surfaces and immediately transfer to foods.
ABC North Queensland
8 April, 2012 12:08PM AEST
The three second rule
Would you eat a piece of food you had dropped on the ground? What if it was only on the ground for a second? Or three...
Food technologies research scientist Phillip Button says it’s never safe to eat anything that’s touched the floor.
If the item is something you can wash, such as an apple (and it hasn’t been bruised), can’t you then eat it, assuming you DO wash it? What about an orange, in which case the edible part is protected?
Of course, if you’re a cat, dog, etc., there is a five-hour, or perhaps five-day, rule.