Urban Legends

Is the famous Five-Second Rule, beloved by parents and small children everywhere, dead? According to a recent article in the New York Times it may be! The Five-Second Rule, for those of you who are unfamiliar it, states that food, if dropped on the floor, may be safely consumed if picked up within five seconds. Now, a study by Clemson University  threatens to explode this cherished myth. Clemson researchers found that apparently bacteria and germs hang out on surfaces for quite longer than previously assumed. An area of floor contaminated eight hours earlier left between 150 and 8,000 bacteria on slices of bologna and bread left sitting for five seconds. The Five-Second Rule, however, gained a little more credibility when the study found that food left on the surface for a full minute collected 10 times as much!

So there's less of a risk, rather than no risk at all. Perhaps it's time for the Three-Second Rule, instead? Read the whole article online here: The Curious Cook: The Five-Second Rule Explored, or How Dirty Is That Bologna?