Is 5 seconds too long?

The Columbus Dispatch ^ | October 7, 2003 | Dru Sefton

[flutters]

Food-on-floor rule, used by kids and parents alike, is put to the test

Oops! You’ve dropped your Oreo on the floor. Do you pick it up and eat it? It’s a test of the ‘‘five-second rule": If a foodstuff is on the floor less than five seconds, it’s safe to snarf.

But is that true?

A young researcher set out to determine the answer during her summer internship in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her findings surprised even her microbiologist mentor.

‘‘There were a very low number of microorganisms on the floor," said Jillian Clarke, 16, a senior at Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences.

Clarke and Meredith Agle, a doctoral candidate at Illinois, took swab samples of floors at dozens of locations around the Champaign-Urbana campus.

‘‘We did it several times," Agle said. ‘‘The floors are clean. We did a bunch of areas: near vending machines, the library, cafeteria. There just weren’t high numbers of bacteria on any floors."

That’s probably because floors are dry, Agle said. Germs thrive in damp environments.

But don’t gobble that Oreo just yet.

Clarke repeated the swab test in the laboratory on rough and smooth floor tiles inoculated with E. coli bacteria. She dropped foods, timed them there, then examined them under a microscope.

Items dropped on infected flooring indeed were contaminated in less than five seconds.

So, the good news: Chances are the floor beneath your fumbled Oreo doesn’t contain E. coli. The bad news: If it does, your cookie is contaminated and shouldn’t be eaten.

‘‘I’d applied that five-second rule a lot," Clarke said. ‘‘But I never really took time to think about it."

Neither had food-safety expert Peter Slade. ‘‘I’ve heard it from my kids," he said.

Slade is an associate professor at the National Center for Food Safety and Technology in Summit-Argo, Ill., a research consortium affiliated with the Illinois Institute of Technology.

‘‘I turn a blind eye when my kids drop something on the kitchen floor," Slade said. ‘‘But then, I assume our kitchen floor is relatively clean, not inoculated with E. coli."

If the floor is contaminated, sticky items are especially dangerous. ‘‘Peanut butter and jelly, facedown, that’s a goner," he said.

And don’t think that shaking or blowing will help. ‘‘You may remove visible dirt, but those bugs are microscopic," he said.

Keith Schneider agrees. As an assistant professor in the Food Science and Human Nutrition Department at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Schneider writes fact sheets for the food industry on safety issues. One warned in capital letters, ‘‘THERE IS NO FIVE-SECOND RULE WHEN IT COMES TO FOOD SAFETY!"

‘‘Have I eaten a cookie or piece of food after I’ve dropped it? Yes," Schneider said. ‘‘Have I ever given my child a piece of food when it was dropped? No. Have I ever served food that had contacted the floor? No."

Schneider’s advice: ‘‘When in doubt, throw it out."

Still, the rule has proven pervasive.

‘‘I think anybody with kids knows that rule," said Lynne Olver, a librarian and food researcher in Whippany, N.J.

‘‘Unless you have a dog. Dogs are in there within four seconds."

[mewzilla]

=80

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[tdadams]

I saw the headline and prematurely thought this was about something else entirely.

[Aracelis]

Ping!

[E. Pluribus Unum]

So, the good news: Chances are the floor beneath your fumbled Oreo doesn’t contain E. coli. The bad news: If it does, your cookie is contaminated and shouldn’t be eaten.

Luckily enough, E. Coli literally smells like s**t, so a good rule of thumbs is if something smells like s**t, don't put it in your mouth.

[NautiNurse]

Had never heard that 5 second rule before. In our house--if it could be washed off--it would be--then eaten.

[CygnusXI]

You let it sit for 5 seconds you ain't hungry enough :)

...But if this were about ooogling women, I would say 5 seconds is waaaay too short.

[PatrickHenry]

... and prematurely ...

Indeed.

[PatrickHenry]

I know what you're thinking.

[tdadams]

Someone gets it...

[not_apathetic_anymore]

‘‘Unless you have a dog. Dogs are in there within four seconds."

Actually I believe the dog intentionally spends her time under my feet in the kitchen trying to cause a food fumble that will result in an instant doggie treat. There is no chance food will last even four seconds when she's there!

[Aracelis]

...But if this were about ooogling women, I would say 5 seconds is waaaay too short.

Now, now...let's not be sexist. Oogling a handsome man takes just as much time. ;^)

[Semper Paratus]

But never, ever 'double dip' your chips.

[blau993]

If the older and more agile of my two labs is on his game that day, it will never hit the floor!

[mewzilla]

We used to have a St. Bernard. She didn't wait for it to hit the floor. She'd stand up to the counter and get it. We lost a Thanksgiving turkey that way. But there is a reason dogs are called medieval vacuum cleaners :)

[Junior]

Bump.

[alloysteel]

Washing the food simply activates the bacterial spores, and is probably worse than a dry pick-up-and-eat morsel.

Of course, a lot of foods do not take the wash-off precaution well, like they melt or crumble, and therefore are not a problem if this procedure is used.

[onedoug]

Why did, or didn't you wash your hands before eating it?

[PatrickHenry]

My dogs have a rule. If it hits the floor, it's theirs. And if it's too near the edge of the table, it's also theirs (unless they know I'm watching).