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Does The 5-Second Rule Actually Mean It's Safe To Eat Food Off The Floor? - Huff Post
This superstition might be as old as Genghis Khan, but is it true? We asked experts who have studied it.
We’ve all dropped a cracker or slice of pizza on the floor and still wanted to eat it ― and maybe actually eaten it, while invoking the five-second rule. But is it ever OK to eat foods that have been dropped on the ground? Is that hallowed piece of pizza actually protected for those sacred five seconds, or is it all a lie we like to believe?
“Well, I actually don’t like to tell people what to do,” said Don Schaffner, extension specialist and distinguished professor in the department of food science at Rutgers University. “I like to tell people about the science and let them make their own decision. Certainly, if you drop something on the ground, it may contact germs, and if you eat those germs, they may make you sick.”
Whether the five-second rule ― or 10-second or three-second rule, whatever you call it ― is true is complex, experts said. It depends on several variables, including the type of food, type of floor and what that surface is potentially contaminated with.
This superstition might be as old as Genghis Khan, but is it true? We asked experts who have studied it.
We’ve all dropped a cracker or slice of pizza on the floor and still wanted to eat it ― and maybe actually eaten it, while invoking the five-second rule. But is it ever OK to eat foods that have been dropped on the ground? Is that hallowed piece of pizza actually protected for those sacred five seconds, or is it all a lie we like to believe?
“Well, I actually don’t like to tell people what to do,” said Don Schaffner, extension specialist and distinguished professor in the department of food science at Rutgers University. “I like to tell people about the science and let them make their own decision. Certainly, if you drop something on the ground, it may contact germs, and if you eat those germs, they may make you sick.”
Whether the five-second rule ― or 10-second or three-second rule, whatever you call it ― is true is complex, experts said. It depends on several variables, including the type of food, type of floor and what that surface is potentially contaminated with.