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The five-second rule, sometimes known as the three-second rule,
[(7 February 2006]
Getting the dirt of the 5-second rule
''Southeast Missourian
''The Southeast Missourian'' is a 3 day per week newspaper published in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and serves (as the name implies) the southeastern portion of Missouri.
History
The paper began publication on October 3, 1904 as ''The Daily Rep ...
'' is a
food hygiene
Food safety (or food hygiene) is used as a scientific method/discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent food-borne illness. The occurrence of two or more cases of a similar illness resulting from ...
myth that states a defined time window where it is safe to pick up food (or sometimes
cutlery
Cutlery (also referred to as silverware, flatware, or tableware), includes any hand implement used in preparing, serving, and especially eating food in Western culture. A person who makes or sells cutlery is called a cutler. The city of Sheffie ...
) after it has been dropped on the floor or on the ground and thus exposed to contamination.
There appears to be no scientific consensus on the general applicability of the rule, and its origin is unclear.
[Sefton, Dru (2003)]
Intern Puts Science Behind the Five-Second Rule
''Newhouse News service
Advance Publications, Inc., doing business as Advance, is an American media company owned by the descendants of S.I. Newhouse Sr., Donald Newhouse and S.I. Newhouse Jr. It owns a large number of subsidiary companies, including Condé Nast, an ...
''[(16 May 2007)]
Kissing Away the Germs (letter to editor)
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' It probably originated succeeding
germ theory
The germ theory of disease is the currently accepted scientific theory for many diseases. It states that microorganisms known as pathogens or "germs" can lead to disease. These small organisms, too small to be seen without magnification, invade ...
in the late 19th century. The first known mention of the rule in print is in the 1995 novel ''Wanted: Rowing Coach''.
Research
The five-second rule has received some scholarly attention. It has been studied as both a
public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...
recommendation and a
sociological
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation and ...
effect.
University of Illinois
In 2003, Jillian Clarke of the
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...
found in a survey that 56% of men and 70% of women surveyed, were familiar with the five-second rule. She also determined that a variety of foods were significantly contaminated by even brief exposure to a tile inoculated with ''
E. coli''.
On the other hand, Clarke found no significant evidence of contamination on public flooring.
For this work, Clarke received the 2004
Prize in public health.
A more thorough study in 2006 using
salmonella
''Salmonella'' is a genus of rod-shaped (bacillus) Gram-negative bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae. The two species of ''Salmonella'' are ''Salmonella enterica'' and ''Salmonella bongori''. ''S. enterica'' is the type species and is fur ...
on wood, tiles, and nylon carpet, found that the bacteria were able to thrive under dry conditions even after twenty-eight days. Tested on surfaces that had been contaminated with salmonella eight hours previously, the bacteria were still able to contaminate bread and
bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...
in under five seconds. But a minute-long contact increased contamination about tenfold (especially tile and carpet surfaces).
Rutgers University
The researchers at the
Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...
debunked the theory in 2016 by dropping watermelon cubes, gummy candies, plain white bread, and buttered bread from a height of on to surfaces slathered in ''
Enterobacter aerogenes
''Klebsiella aerogenes'', previously known as ''Enterobacter aerogenes,'' is a Gram-negative, oxidase negative, catalase positive, citrate positive, indole negative, rod-shaped bacterium. The bacterium is approximately 1-3 microns in length, an ...
''. The surfaces used were carpet, ceramic tile, stainless steel and wood. The food was left on the surface in intervals of 5, 30 and 300 seconds. The scientists assessed the amount of ''E. aerogenes'' transferred between surface and food. Since bacteria tended to be attracted to moisture, wet food had more risk to have bacteria transferred than dry food. To the surprise of the researchers, carpet transferred fewer bacteria than steel or tile. Wood was hard to pin down as it showed a large variation. "The five-second rule is a significant
oversimplification
The fallacy of the single cause, also known as complex cause, causal oversimplification, causal reductionism, and reduction fallacy, is an informal fallacy of questionable cause that occurs when it is assumed that there is a single, simple cause of ...
of what actually happens when bacteria transfer from a surface to food," Donald Schaffner, a Rutgers University biologist and an author of the research, said in a statement in the ''Washington Post''. "Bacteria can contaminate instantaneously."
A pediatrician criticized the study for discounting the danger in consuming certain foods dropped onto floors.
Other
A 2006 study at
Clemson University
Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enro ...
was unable to verify the rule, when looking at tile, wood, and carpet floors. It indicated that bacteria can survive on the ground for a long time.
A 2014 study by biology students at
Aston University
Aston University (abbreviated as ''Aston''. for post-nominals) is a public research university situated in the city centre of Birmingham, England. Aston began as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School in 1895, evolving into the UK's first c ...
in England suggested that there may be a basis for the five-second rule. Anthony Hilton, head of microbiology at Aston University, indicated in 2017 that food dropped on a seemingly clean floor for a few moments can be eaten with minimal risk.
Informal
The five-second rule was featured in an
episode
An episode is a narrative unit within a larger dramatic work or documentary production, such as a series intended for radio, television or streaming consumption.
The noun ''episode'' is derived from the Greek term ''epeisodion'' (), meaning t ...
of the
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...
series ''
MythBusters
''MythBusters'' is a science entertainment television program, developed by Peter Rees and produced by Australia's Beyond Television Productions. The series premiered on the Discovery Channel on January 23, 2003. It was broadcast internatio ...
'', which discovered that there was no significant difference in the number of bacteria collected. The aspects that affect the contamination process is the moisture, surface geometry and the location.
Ted Allen put the rule to the test in an episode of ''
Food Detectives
''Food Detectives'' was a food science show hosted by Ted Allen that aired in North America on Food Network from July to September 2008. Ted Allen, backed by research conducted by ''Popular Science'' magazine, investigated food-related beliefs, s ...
'', and found that bacteria will cling to food immediately.
The YouTube channel
Vsauce
Vsauce () is a YouTube brand created by educator Michael Stevens. The channels feature videos on scientific, psychological, mathematical, and philosophical topics, as well as gaming, technology, popular culture, and other general interest subj ...
also dedicated a video to this topic, concluding that it would be more correct to call it the "Don't Touch Food That's Fallen on the Floor Rule".
[Archived a]
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
References
{{portalbar, Food
American cultural conventions
Food safety
Misconceptions
Rules of thumb
Applied microbiology
Urban legends
Pseudoscience