Is the five second rule really true?

Food waste is something we should strive to stay away from. In the United Kingdom, food waste amounts to £10.2 billion lost annually ($ 15.5 billion). Looking at only those foods that are never touched or open before spoiling or disposal, the U.S. wastes 15 percent, which adds up to $ 43 billion in food waste each year. In such cases, you’d think the five second rule (picking up dropped food “in time”) appeal to the cash conscious. According to Chicago Tribune, a Clemson University study by food scientist Paul Dawson entirely rebukes the validity of any such five second rule. Source for this article – Is the five second rule giving way to a zero second rule by Personal Money Store.

Make the five second rule a zero second rule to be safe, says Dawson

Dawson reminds that salmonella and other harmful bacteria can survive for as long as four weeks on the surfaces of your home, so the five second rule is too risky to utilize. Previous collegiate studies used apples and Skittles on a college dining room floor. The old study claimed the apple took one minute before infection, when the candy took all of five minutes. Another student collegiate study performed at the University of Maine showed that the five second rule could reduce food waste and improve child immune systems.

Dawson says location is key

The five second rule is arbitrary and meaningless, claims Dawson and others of comparable scholarly bent. A kitchen or bathroom floor will typically be home to numerous more harmful germs that cause illness, as outlined by numerous scientific studies. However, if a bagel drops on the sidewalk, it’s OK to pick it up and brush it off. Believe it or not, that sidewalk is probably much less germ-ridden than the floors of your home.

Five second psych

The Tribune points to research that shows the risk people take with recovering dropped food is typically related to how badly they want what they dropped. As a result; studies have found that cookies and candy are likely to be retrieved, as opposed to broccoli. And get this, food waste aficionados – gender stereotypes wail and die in light of the observed tendency women show to pick up and eat dropped food more than men.

Citations

featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/features_julieshealthclub/2010/07/debunking-the-fivesecond-dropped-food-rule.html

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_waste