There's nothing sadder than dropping your favorite donut on the floor.
But with your fast reflexes, you quickly pick
it up and dust it off so you can still eat it.
Five-second rule, right?
Right?
The five-second rule,
or three-second rule,
two-second rule or even ten-second rule,
is the idea that there is a window of time when you can pick up
dropped food and it will be germ-free and still safe to consume.
When food falls on the floor, it can pick up different harmful bacteria
like Salmonella, E. coli, and Staphylococcus aureus.
According to the five-second rule, dropped food would not be contaminated immediately since
bacteria would try to avoid being squished by it before they move and latch on to it.
This would make sense since bacteria only
move between 2 to 200 micrometers per second.
Studies have shown though that the five-second rule is not real because
bacteria transfers almost immediately from the floor to the food upon contact.
While letting the food stay on the ground longer
does mean more bacteria will be transferred,
the type of food and type of surface actually matter
more if you are contemplating still eating the food.
In 2016, researchers at Rutgers University conducted a study on the five-second rule.
In their study, they dropped different types of food on different
surfaces and left the food to sit for different amounts of time.
They dropped four types of food,
on four different surfaces,
and left the food for four different times from less than a second.
up to 300 seconds.
All in all they tested 128 scenarios with 2,560 trials.
Their results agree with the consensus that bacteria transfers to
food almost immediately after coming into contact with the floor
and that the food gets more bacteria the longer it stays in contact with the surface.
They also found out that the watermelon picked up the most bacteria
when dropped to any surface, no matter how long it stayed in contact.
Meanwhile, the drier gummy candy contains the least amount of bacteria.
This maybe because the higher moisture content of the
watermelon facilitates the transfer of bacteria.
Their study also showed that the type of surface affects
the amount of bacteria that contaminates your food.
Surprisingly, the transfer rate of bacteria is
surfaces common in the kitchen,
mga surface na madalas nakikita sa kusina,
while it is lowest for the carpet.
Because of its structure, the carpet has less
surface area for food to come in contact with.
So should you eat food you dropped on the floor?
It depends.
As long as the food is not wet or sticky,
it hasn't stayed on the floor for too long,
and there are no visible dirt on it,
then your immune system is tough enough to fend off the bacteria
But if your sticky sugar-glazed donut falls onto a wet floor,
it's probably best to err on the side of caution and just get another donut.
Do you have any science questions you want answered?
Just ask in the comments!
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