Posted on 05/03/2012 7:13:48 PM PDT by Daffynition
Who hasn't picked up a piece of dropped food from the floor, given it a quick blow and assumed it was still safe to eat?
To many of us, it is second nature to apply the age-old pseudo-scientific 'three second rule' on such occasions, telling ourselves we're safe if the food hit the floor only momentarily.
The idea that food is not contaminated if it is retrieved quickly has been believed for many years - but there has not been extensive proof that this is the case.
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I grew up with woods behind the house. I practically lived in those woods. Climbing trees, catching snakes, falling in poison ivy, drinking from the crick, building tree houses and underground forts, and eating the wild strawberries made me immune to a lot of things. I don’t even get poison ivy anymore - - still rip the stuff out with my bare hands. (shrug) It wouldn’t seem like the kind of thing you can develop an immunity to, but there you go.
I take a bite and one of the ears falls off intact. It landed on the still frozen chocolate side with the broken Ice Cream part sticking up. The chocolate has to be a quarter inch thick. It didn't crack when it hit the ground.
You bet your sweet a$$ that there was no way I was going to waste any part of that Five Dollar Ice Cream Bar. I reached down, wiped off the spot that hit the ground with my napkin and proceeded to eat it.
Even at my advanced age, I scooped it up in under three seconds. If my Wife was there, she would have knocked it out of my hand. Luckily I was sitting next to a friend of mine, who looked at me and just nodded his understanding, knowing as all men do that the three second rule is a universal truth. Wipe off the chunks and you are fine.
Women seem to have a different opinion however, at least the ones I have known in my 50 plus years.
BTW - That is the BEST Ice Cream Bar on God's green earth.
You put your floor to the lab test, eh?
Ma always said that you have to eat a pound of dirt before you die...
I was about to say the same thing. My sister is like that. I pointed it out throughout our youth and was always laughed off. But alas, she is always sick, while I rarely get sick (knock on wood).
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LOL... boy do I remember that line...and when we kids would disappoint her, she’d say, *I’m going to go in the garden and eats worms.*
Never, ever did she swear [not that she didn’t have cause] when pressed...*damnation* was the worst we rarely ever heard. :)
If you really want to have fun, look up the FDA limits for soil, insect parts, etc. for various food products. Almost any food product you name has specified maximum contaminant concentrations, because it is quite literally impossible to have zero contaminants.
Does anyone seriously think cabbage or lettuce grown outside in the dirt can have the soil thoroughly removed before eating?
This just made me think about how a person progresses as a parent when youhave multiple children
Our first born, any time anyone went to pick him up, they would have to wash their hands -- on HOT WATER AND WITH LOTS OF SOAP -- and basically don a hazmat suit before she would let them touch him. By the time our third one hit the scene, he was passed around to whoever whenever no matter what.
Same with pacifiers (and toys):
First child - Paci taken away, completely washed and sterilized befor ever giving it back
Second Child -- Paci would get picked up, run under hot water real quick, then given back
Third Child -- Paci would get picked off, quick rub off of any 'chunks' on the sleve or pants and then back in the mouth it would go.
First child is allergic to every pollen, grass, animal dander under the son -- takes weekly shots to control his allergies. Second child has annual hayfever and a few small contact allergies. Third child has absolutely no allergies what so ever.
LOL - no, but those are accurate. Liberty and Freedom are their names.
My mom almost threw up when I alternated bites of a cheeseburger between my Dobermann and myself.
[it’s not like she was ever going to cook *him* one it’s rude to eat in front of somebody without offering them some]
Good thing she never went to the Tastee Freeze with us.
He loved the vanilla ice cream cones I got there.
I sleep with my dogs.
I play with my snakes.
I rinse my hands with just plain water 99% of the time.
“Dirt” doesn’t freak me out but all the toxic ‘cleaners’ do.
I never catch whatever’s going around.
My mom, her mom and my sister practically autoclave everything and their houses are lousy with deodorizers, sanitizers and air fresheners.
I’d get sick headaches when I visited.
Maybe he ate rocks because he needed the minerals.
;D
I don’t think people “believe” the 5 second rule, we all know any germs from the floor come on contact, we just invoke it because we’d rather not throw out that cookie.
Haha. I don’t go that far (although I do love my dog). But it’s the same logic.
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