Five- Second Rule for Dropped Food

     

     Food safety has always been a concern for our daily lives since the beginning of scientific researching and awareness of health risks. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 76 million Americans are sickened, 325,000 are hospitalized, and 5,000 die each year because of something they ate (Schlosser). Part of the problem is that the food is not clean, therefore, there are many rules and regulations that are applied food provided to the general public nowadays. One of the most popular rules is the “five-second rule” for dropped food. Lots of mothers know this five-second rule, a common superstition, which says that food dropped on the ground will not be contaminated with bacteria if it is picked up within five seconds of being dropped. Yet, many scientists have proved that peoples’ beliefs have a lack of science.

     As to the true origin of the rule no one really knows; many believe the rule has been around as long as the Golden Rule. Virtually unchanged since olden days, the rule has indeed been around for thousands of years. The farther we look back into history the longer duration the Five Second Rule has. For example: Historians have traced the Five Second Rule all the way back to the time of Barbarians and the great Genghis Khan. Back then, the Five Second Rule was known as the Khan Rule. As his army marched across Europe and Asia, he would present his generals with a great banquet after each victory. At the banquet, Khan made sure there was plenty of food and drinks for everyone and informed his generals of his only banquet rule. Any food fallen on the floor could stay on the floor as long as The Great Khan said it could stay on the floor,  it would still be safe to eat. (Ryckeley).

     In May 2007, scientists at Clemson University in South Carolina decided to find out just how much bacteria stick to food as well as to various floor surfaces. By applying a salmonella soup to tile, wood and nylon carpet, the researchers were able to not only see how long the germs lived in those environments, but also how many of the micromenaces transferred to slices of bread and bologna. The researchers discovered that salmonella could survive on all three surfaces for up to four weeks and that they thrived particularly well on the carpet. As experiencing how quickly the germs climbed aboard the bologna and bread, it was found that the longer the contact with the floor, no matter what the surface, the higher the transfer of germs. So, when left on the floor for just five seconds, both foods picked up between 150 and 8,000 bacteria. But if they were left for a full minute, the rate was magnified 10 times. (Franco).

     Even though many scientists have warned people that five second rule is just the myth,  in this high-tech life, the majority of people still believe that the five second rule is truth. They are not only following it, they also tell their kids to apply it as a science rule. This rule is totally fiction. People just want to follow this rule because they try to give an excuse to salvage expensive food, or as an incantation to ward off sickness. Yet, the five-second rule probably should become the zero-second rule. Eating dropped food poses a risk for ingestion of bacteria and subsequent gastrointestinal disease, and the time the food sits on the floor does not change the risk.

Franco, Michael. Does the Five Second Rule Really Work? Retrieved from http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/everyday-myths/five-second-rule.htm

Ryckeley, Rick. (2002 September). About the Five-second Rule and Genghis Khan. Retrieved from http://www.thecitizen.com/archive/main/archive-020927/opinion/op-03.html

Scholosser, Eric. (2006 December). Has Politics Contaminated the Food Supply?.The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/11/opinion/11schlosser.html?pagewanted=all