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LACI True facts, I eat food I dropped on the ground!
TRACE And new research shows you are disgusting!
LACI That's.....that's actually true.
TRACE Thanks, science.
[[MUSIC PLAYING]]
LACI Hey everyone, Laci and Trace here. It's an
age old question: WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE 5 SECOND RULE?
TRACE Uh, doi. The 5 second rule is the idea that
it's safe to eat food off the floor as long as its been down there for less than 5 seconds.
BUT this week, a new, informal study coming out of Aston University in the UK has found
that this is in fact.....TRUE!
LACI DING DING DING. EAT AWAY PEEPS. LICK IT OFF
THE FLOOR.
TRACE You probably shouldn't lick the floor tho.....you'll
lick up more bacteria.
LACI Oh right. DON'T LICK IT OFF THE FLOOR. To
conduct the study, the scientists (i think it was done by a professor and his students,
not scientists) dropped all kinds of food items like toast, pasta, biscuits, and sticky
sweets on laminates, tiles, and carpets. Indoor floors only. Then they measured bacterial
growth, specifically of e. coli and staph, for various lengths of time from 3-30 seconds.
TRACE They found the longer the food was on the
floor, the more bacteria accumulated on the tasty bits of food, which suggests: the amount
of time the food has been on the floor DOES MATTER. On average, after 5 seconds, bacteria
did begin to accumulate to questionable levels. But at less than that, there was bacteria,
but it wasn't as bad.
LACI The type of flooring matters too. Carpets
were less likely to transmit bacteria than both the tiled and laminated floors. (can
we get a why in here? why is the carpet less likely? that's not what I'd think) The scientists
believe carpet is your safest bet, followed by laminated floors, followed by tiling -- which
is the grossest and dirtiest.
TRACE That's how it is at my house too. Though carpet
gets the fuzzies on the food more. Dry foods were also found to be safer than wet foods
since wet foods made more contact with floor bacteria. Cookies, for instance, were safe
for up to 30 seconds. It's Girl Scout cookie season, I can now drop them with reckless
abandon!
LACI 2 notes on this verdict though - ONE, it's
still true that any food dropped on the floor still carries some infection risk. I mean,
it depends what kind of bacteria is present on that particular floor.
TRACE Yeah, I mean, maybe your floor is gross because
you never clean it. I wouldn't eat off that floor.
LACI I would be less likely to eat off that floor,
but I might still consider it. The other note is that this study is NOT YET PEER REVIEWED.
TRACE *GASP* PEER REVIEWING IS INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT.
This study seems to have good methodology though. It was a followup to a 2007 study
at Clemson University and found that eating food off the floor ISN'T safe because the
bacterial transfer happens immediately.
LACI Which is what this study found too, they just
also found that the amount of time it's down there plays a role.
TRACE Long story short: you're probably not going
to get sick or die from eating food off the floor if you pick it up right away--
LACI But there's always a chance. And do you really
want to risk it?
TRACE If it's CHEESE AND BAGUETTES WITH A SASAFWE
ON TOP, yes.
LACI That's right. We live on the edge here at
DNews.
TRACE The study actually found that almost 90% of
people live on the edge and are down to eat stuff off the floor, with women eating more
floor food than men. So there you go. Are you guys down with the 5 second rule or is
it crossing the hygiene line? Let us know down below and we'll see you next time with
more science updates!