What are your thoughts on the 5 second rule? Ew or agree? What foods should NEVER be allowed to fall under the 5 second rule?
I'm fine with that rule but I'm pretty sure it's been proven to not be true so no food should ever be fall under the rule.... But I still use it too xD
was that convo seriously only ten minutes between the discord and you making this at the time of me typing? damn thats some fast posting My rule: if it's "dry" food, I eat it. If it's "wet" food, I back the hell away. Gist statement: if it doesn't look like it could pick up tons of nasty floor germs, fair game! Only exception is with candy as I will not even dare to pick up a piece of candy that's been unwrapped.
Food onto the floor doesn't really bother me. If a piece of something falls onto the floor, and I can easily pick or clean it up, I don't mind eating it. I don't usually do this when dust or hair gets caught in the food (more common if it's on a carpet), but beyond that, food is food. Bonus points if it's candy, which is borderline undesecratable. If it tends to leave a mess, or is otherwise not worth the effort, I'll just clean it up and throw it away. Of course, all of that only applies if a piece of food falls on the floor and I'm in my own home. If it falls somewhere else, forget it; it's going straight to the rubbish bin.
Nope, big no. Scientifically speaking, 5 seconds is enough to get the food have millions of germs in it. Anyway, for me it doesn't matter for me if it fell outside, on the cement, on the grass, on our house, on our garden. If it falls, it falls, and I'm not going to eat it anytime soon!
I don't really go by a 5 second rule. Like others in the thread I go more by these factors: Wet/sticky or dry food - if wet/sticky, I won't eat it off the floor no matter what but I give more leeway to dry food. Carpet or hard-flooring - if carpet I generally won't eat it regardless of what the food is, but if it's on hard-flooring I might consider. Is the floor dirty or clean - if I don't know for sure, I won't eat the food off the floor. If it's my own/family/friend's house and I know that section of the floor is rarely used or recently cleaned, I'll probably eat it. My understanding is that food can be on the floor for 30 seconds or even more before germs get on it but the other factors come into play for me waaay before the time actually spent on the ground.
The Mythbusters busted that particular myth - the transfer of germs and stuff is immediate, so no, no 5-second rule for me. Interestingly, they also busted the double-dip myth... XD
No way! For me if it touches anything "not perfectly clean" I view it as contaminated the second it makes contact and throw it away. My immune system is crap so I'm always paranoid about this lol.
The number of germs is never the issue; the type is. If I'm in the comfort of my own home, the microbiome is already going to be something I'm inherently used to - so no matter how many germs hop onto my food when I'm at home, they won't really affect me in any discernible way. How long it's been on the floor doesn't matter (until you get to the order of hours, but then you raise the problem of the food itself degrading anyway). This is why I don't have an issue if this happens at home - only when I'm out of the house. Makes sense, right? I'm more willing to take chances with the familiar than with a place that hundreds or perhaps thousands of people visit daily.
It was already mentioned, but yeah, the Mythbusters tested that. For me it comes down to the cleanliness of the floor, so the length of time doesn't really matter.
Yeah, no, I don't follow the 5-second rule. Mostly due to me being in the food business and what not. Even if the floor is clean, there's no way I'm picking it up and eating it.
I agree with the gist of what's been said before me - if I'm eating in my house, or a family or friend's, I'll eat food off the floor, no problem. I'm confident there that the area will be relatively clean and I'm not about to waste good food. Elsewhere, though, I can be very picky about the cleanliness of an area, and once it falls, it's gone. I will never eat food off the floor from a public place like a restaurant.
Generally if it's on the floor it'll go in the bin. The exception is when I'm at home and it's something I can wash, like a fruit. Even then though, I'll probably just chuck it out.
Never said it was about the number of germs. The germs on your floor, due to it being in constant contact insects (it's impossible to completely keep them out of one's home), the bottom of your shoes, and so on are going to be quite different from the ones that frequent the refrigerator or fruit basket. That said, I tend to be rather paranoid about such things because, like Becca, I've also worked in foodservice, and so don't trust any place that hasn't been totally nuked with the strongest available chemicals (which includes my dorm because I'm a poor college student so everything gets cleaned in really hot water and Windex). Yeah, if it's a fruit like an orange - one that hasn't been peeled - I'll just rewash the rind before peeling it.
Depends what the food is and what you've dropped it on. If the food's wet or sticky, it shouldn't be eaten, same with if the ground is covered in dog poo or something. But under most other circumstances, I've got not problems.
Whether or not I'm willing to eat something that's been on the floor depends on what the food is and what floor it it was on. And if I do eat something from the floor, I'll usually rinse it off first.
