July 13, 2025
Science

If we pick up the food that falls on the floor within 5 seconds, does it really stay clean? Here is science’s answer!

  • May 28, 2024
  • 0

We all drop our food on the floor sometimes. We experience a moment of hesitation. Should you pick it up quickly and eat it or throw it in

If we pick up the food that falls on the floor within 5 seconds, does it really stay clean?  Here is science’s answer!

We all drop our food on the floor sometimes. We experience a moment of hesitation.

Should you pick it up quickly and eat it or throw it in the trash? In this case we immediately think of The famous “5-second rule” comes. Let’s look at the essence and basis of the rule in the light of science.

What is this 5 second rule?

Cookie falling on the floor

The rule in question is that food falls to the ground It is edible if ingested within 5 seconds and assumes that microorganisms cannot infect food in a short time.

But in real life, things happen all the time It may not be that simple…

So how true is it?

girl child

According to a study conducted at Rutgers University; moisture content of the food, type of surface it fell on and duration of contactaffects the degree of cross-contamination.

So some foods and surfaces, safer than others it could be. Here are the results of the survey:

Foods with high moisture content are subject to more contamination. For example, watermelon, which has a high water content, most polluted It is one of the foods.

Surface type is also a big factor.

fallen potato

Research shows that surfaces are covered with carpet It has a very low transfer speed during showing; Tile, stainless steel and wooden surfaces have much higher transfer rates.

In some cases, bacteria can end up in the food in less than 1 second can start. In short, it’s best not to eat anything that falls on the floor. 🙂

Sources: Healthline, Science Friday

Our other content that may interest you:

Source: Web Tekno

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *