The 5-second rule Myth or reality?

The 5-second rule Myth or reality?

In 2003, Jillian Clarke, a student at the University of Illinois, studied the power of the five-second rule to attract media attention. Clarke surveyed the students and found that 50 percent of the men and 70 percent of the women who were asked if they trusted the 5-second rule said they believed it and that they actually implemented it at home.

Of course, there are still those who argue that floors are ritually impure, and any period of time unsafe. Then there are those who are happy to take risks. But lately, scientists have been trying to get into the act. Trying to dismantle a belief as old as the Old Testament.

Anthony Hilton, professor of applied microbiology at Aston University, found that there may be variations between the kinds of food that fall on the ground. So sandwiches, fries, dry toast and cookies can stay up to half an hour on the ground, without any damage. But sweets, cooked pastas and doughnuts still stick to the five-second marker. He also discovered that tiled surfaces are dirtier than carpets, to much surprise.

However, in 2007, Paul Dawson of Clemson University concluded in the Journal of Applied Microbiology that dirt on the floor is much more important than the time the food stays there and that contamination of most foods occurs immediately and that as more time passes, the food will become more and more contaminated, so it could become dangerous in the case of pathogenic bacteria.

The floors, even when they seem to be clean, harbor all kinds of microorganisms, especially those that we are able to transport through the soles of our shoes. A study conducted by the University of Arizona concluded that 93% of our shoes have fecal bacteria, so I would think again with this issue of eating something that was in contact with the soil, but there is more.

Dawson also agreed that bacteria can survive and cross-contaminate other foods even after long periods of time on dry surfaces, which reinforces the importance of sanitation of food contact surfaces to minimize the risk of foodborne illness.

In 2014, Aston University announced that the contamination was generally instantaneous and that the bacterial load increased exponentially in the 3 to 30 second period after the food came in contact with the floor.

While cross-contamination remains one of the major causes of food poisoning, for example, the use of unwashed knives that have cut raw chicken to cut vegetables, it is also true that there are no documented incidents that relate the ingestion of foods that were in contact with the floor and the manifestation of diseases, however, given that these diseases have symptoms similar to others, could be masked the results.

Is the five-second rule dead, then? As the great scholars of theology have already found, it takes more than a few touches of science to put an end to our deep desire to believe. So as a scientist I am convinced that this informative work will bear fruit, I hope it doesn't take me 100 years.