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Scientists Say That The Five-Second Rule Is A Myth

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Metro- It’s long been claimed that eating food off the floor is fine as long as you pick it up — and eat it — in under five seconds. But the so-called “five second rule” has come under scrutiny from researchers at Rutgers University, who found it can take as little as one second for food to become contaminated, depending on the surface it lands on. Scientists tested the contamination time of watermelon, bread and butter, plain bread and gummy candy when they fell on stainless steel, ceramic tile, wood and carpet. The surfaces were coated with Enterobacter aerogenes, a microorganism similar to Salmonella.

After testing each combination of food, surface and exposure 20 times, experts came to the conclusion that the wetness of the food and topography of the surface play a significant role in how quickly bacteria can transfer from the floor to food. “One of the most interesting results is that there is a high cross-contamination from any surface to watermelon (wet food). It picks up bacteria in less than one second,” said lead author Donald Schaffner. He added: “Surfaces that are more flat — tile and stainless steel — also had much higher rates of bacterial transfer than carpet or wood.”

However, scientists claim that eating a cookie with a bit of dust on it is not likely to cause much harm to a person with a healthy immune system. But there is always a risk of picking up more dangerous bacteria, for example, in hospitals. “We have advanced the science of cross-contamination and made people aware that the ‘5 second rule’ is not true,” Schaffner added. “Hopefully people will make better decisions about eating foods that have fallen on the floor.”

This is what happens when you have a bunch of nerd scientists getting involved in every day life. The five-second rule is not a rule as much as it is a guideline. I don’t think anyone actually thought that your food was safe from all bacteria as long as it was picked up before someone counted five Mississippi. But we are a society. We can’t just throw out food, especially good snacks, just because they may have a little bit of dirt or salmonella on them. You know all those starving kids in Africa and China that your parents told you about growing up? The would clean the floor of your entire house with their tongue to eat that potato chip you dropped. Like most studies, I always question the people that fund the research that a group of scientists do. And this study reeks of being bank-rolled by the powers that be in the food industry.

Now listen, I may be an enormous human, but that’s only because of my diet, not because I eat everything in sight. I won’t eat something if I see bugs in your restaurant. You have to have an A from the New York Health Department for me to eat at your restaurant in the city. That’s just having a shred of self-respect. I also don’t eat anything that has passed its expiration date because in that case you probably have mold and shit growing from the inside out. And yes, of course I wash my apples. Only heathens eat those pesticides. But I don’t give a shit that a few scientists said that there may be a bunch of germs hopping onto my food as soon as it touches the ground. Humans didn’t conquer the food chain by following every rule and being pussies. We evolved quicker than the animals around us and now get to eat them because of it. If we can eat a dead animal’s meat, we can sure as hell eat a piece of food that touched the ground. The germs probably make our immune systems stronger so we don’t have a situation like when the Native Americans died from smallpox that the colonists brought over. Try to dispel that logic, brainiacs.

However, I will admit that there are exceptions to the five-second rule. Dry foods like chips or bread or whatever are always five seconds. But any food that is wet is instantly garbage the millisecond it hits the floor. Watermelon and ice cream are two foods that fit this description. Then there are hybrid foods. If you drop a piece of pizza and it lands on its bottom, the five-second rule is in play. But if it lands cheesy side down, it is garbage. No ifs ands or maybes. Plus locations matter. If you do this in your own house that you know is clean, you are fine. But if you drop anything on the floor of a hospital, funeral parlor, or God forbid the subway, you better thrown that shit in the trash immediately. Lastly, if you are eating a food that was on the floor closer to five seconds than one second, just give a quick courtesy dust off with your hand. I mean we are civilized, right?

P.S. When I searched “5 Second Rule” on Google Images, I received wayyyy too many pictures of ice cream and watermelon. If you have ever eaten ice cream after it fell on the floor, you are a legit crazy person that can never be trusted.
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