If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve heard of the “5-second rule,” the urban legend that says that any food dropped on the floor is still germfree as long as it’s picked up within 5 seconds. But how much truth is there to the 5-second rule? Is it fact, or complete fiction?
According to a study by an Aston University research team, the 5-second rule is something that adults believe in just as much as kids: • 87% of people surveyed said that they would eat food that has been dropped on
the floor. • 55% of people who answered “yes” to the previous question were women; 81% of women interviewed said they would use the 5-second rule to determine whether or not something dropped on the floor was still safe to eat.1
We’ve all been there before – a nice
hot piece of toast, or a clean fork, or some other once-clean food item or dining accessory drops on the floor, and we snatch it back up, look for obvious signs of dirt or other contamination, and then immediately start trying to rationalize why it’s still OK to put it in our mouths. The simple fact, however, is that once a food item touches the ground it has absorbed bacteria and germs, no matter how short a time it sits there.
Scientific consensus on the 5-second rule says that when a piece of food hits the ground, some amount of bacteria has already been transferred.2 Still, food that is one with the ground for
only a short period of time will likely have less bacteria than food that sits on the floor for longer. Whether or not something should still be eaten after
hitting the floor depends largely on what kind of food was dropped, how clean the floor is, and a little bit of common sense.
One of the biggest factors at play in the
transference of bacteria is the consistency of the food item in question. If picked up (very) quickly, a dry or non-sticky food item (chips, cookies, etc.) is not likely to have picked up much bacteria. Moist or sticky foods, on the other hand, will have absorbed much more bacteria in the short time they’ve been on the floor. This includes meats, buttered toast, and other foods with a permeable or soft surface to which bacteria can stick.
The kind of flooring material a piece of food has been dropped on also matters. According to the Aston University study, carpet is the surface least likely to transfer bacteria.1 The
types of flooring that are the most likely to contaminate a food item are tile, wood, and other laminated surfaces.3 This is especially true for laminated surfaces in high foot traffic areas and public spaces.
A study by the University of Arizona identified nine different species of bacteria living on people’s shoes – including kinds that can cause eye, lung, and stomach infections. The same study also found that these
bacteria were more likely to live longer on the bottom of shoes than on any other surface, and that 90-95% of said bacteria could
eventually transfer to a tile floor.2
Whether or not you believe in the 5-second rule – and science says that there’s reason to
believe it’s (at least partially) true – the best safeguard that can be taken against contaminating food is to keep floors as clean as possible. This is especially true for schools and other public places, where children are more likely to eat food that has hit the ground, and where the chance of contamination is high.
Performance Systems Janitorial offers great deals on new and refurbished cleaning and janitorial supplies to schools, office buildings, and cleaning companies. PS Janitorial’s cleaning supplies and equipment, including floor sweepers and walk behind floor scrubbers, help keep floors clean, and food safe to eat. For more information and to view our inventory, please visit www.psjanitorial.com.
1.
http://www.aston.ac.uk/about/news/releases/2014/march/five-secondfood-rule-does-exist/
2.
http://www.thecleanerhome.com/blog/flooring-blog/
3.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-the-5-second-rulefor-dropped-food/