What Does Science Say About the Three Second Rule?
- Posted on May 3, 2012 at 10:58pm by
Liz Klimas
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(Photo: Shutterstock)
You really were looking forward to taking a bite of that hamburger, carrot, Popsicle, gummy bear, you name it, but one second ago it landed on the floor. Within another second, you’ve swooped it up and are now considering the three second rule. Should this age old meme justify your blowing it off and sticking it your mouth acting like nothing happened?
Given that the three second rule is so well known, health experts weighing in on it is nothing new, but for those of you who may not have thought twice about eating morsels that have hit the floor, here’s a little bit of scientific food for thought. The Daily Mail reports that researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University tested different foods — bread with jam, cooked pasta, ham, a plain biscuit and dried fruit — for different lengths of time on the floor. After three, five and 10 seconds on the floor, the researchers studied the food for any potentially harmful bacteria it may have picked up.
The Daily Mail has more on the results:
The study revealed that dropped foods with a high salt or sugar content were safer to eat after being retrieved, as is less chance of harmful bacteria surviving on such items.
Eating processed food from the floor poses the lowest risk — one of its few benefits — given that it generally contains such high levels of sugar and salt.
[...]
MMU technical officer Kathy Lees said: “No specific organisms were detected on the biscuit, which has a low water activity level and low adhesion ability.
“Ham is a processed meat preserved with salt and nitrates which prevents the growth of most bacteria.
“The cooked pasta had a slightly increased yeast count after five seconds and very low levels of Klebsiella were detected at all contact times, three, five and ten seconds.”
The dried fruit also displayed Klebsiella after five and ten seconds and the yeast count was too numerous to count.
“The bread and jam showed no bacterial growth after time on the floor, which can be linked to the high sugar content of the jam which makes it unlikely to support microbial growth.”
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation also recently reported on the three second rule, and their expert said it is really never acceptable to follow this practice:
Food technologies research scientist Phillip Button says it‘s never safe to eat anything that’s touched the floor.
“From my understanding just don’t bother”.
“Even five seconds is enough for a substantial amount of bugs to latch on to the food.”
Of all the germs that are on the ground or on the floor of your home, fecal matter is one of the most common contaminants says Dr Button.
Surprised? If you are strong proponent of eating food dropped on the floor for a short amount of time, researchers recommend frequent washing of the floor — once a day — with a mop-head that is replaced every three months or more. Button said while it may seem like carpeting would be a safer bet to eat from, hardwood and tile are most likely cleaner.
Featured image via Shutterstock.
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Comments (63)
Tracy Y. Andersen
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 3:58pmIf it is questionable, why not cut off the contaminated portion? There ought to be most of it still good.
But if you don’t mind, the three-second rule applies.
Enjoy !!!
Report Post »neoconpunk
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 3:53pm3 Seconds? I thought it was One Bounce?
Report Post »thegreatcarnac
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 2:36pmEver been to the French Quarter in New Orleans?? If you drop food on the floor or sidewalk there…LEAVE IT….in 5 seconds germs that can eat a bum if he lays in one place too long,… will devour that morsel. You can watch it dissolve. And if you stand there too long…the bottom of your tennis shoes will begin to deteriorate.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 2:00pmI never heard of this Rule; If it falls on the Floor… it goes to another Dimension of Existence: AnimalWorld!
Report Post »G-WHIZ
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 1:27pmAll you-z germ-free-parranoidal lemmings…the first litttle germ or virus you breath-in will kill you off… cause you-all have never built-up an immune-system synce birth…your lymph-system has NO reccord of anything previous that it fought-and-won against. Sux to be you. I eat vegies pulled straight from the ground without washing them…for 63years(since early kid-dom). early-on I had hundreds of flue and cold(etc) variations…now for the last 20-yrs I get “coughed-on” and [nothing!]. Even ear infections last a day-or less. A 2-week-flue lasts me about a day-or-two at most, with medium-to-mostly-mild symptomes…only get one, maybe, only every 5yrs(or not).
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 1:49pmThe three second rule can be amended up, based on the deliciousness of the food in question. A lima bean for instance, is done in a millisecond. A peanut covered M&M can go all the way up to three minutes. Check the rule book, it’s all laid out for you.
Report Post »Balpit
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 2:04pmMost of us would rather eat an M&M off the floor than a lima bean that never even touched the floor.
Report Post »MOLLYPITCHER
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 11:59amWho would eat cooked pasta off the floor? Toddlers eat food off the floor all of the time. Mine did and never died from it. I saw a little boy once eat a dusty stale cheerio from behind the rocking chair in the church nursery. He’s still alive 3 years later.
Report Post »RRFlyer
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 8:37amWhy do we need researches using tax money to tell us this when Mythbusters did a show on it years ago?
Report Post »Wolf
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 8:53amWhy is this even a story? The only ‘three second rule’ I ever heard of is in radio/Tv delay.
Report Post »SREGN
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 8:26amYou need to give your system something to fight. Builds up immunities.
Report Post »hatchetjob
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 11:50amI think I’d rather get sick the natural way.
Report Post »Pokerjoe
Posted on May 6, 2012 at 10:56amSo true!!!
Report Post »Sloburn
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 7:38amShucks, everybody knows that a chocolate chip cookie, dropped in your house, doesn’t pick up anything in 3 seconds except additional goodness.
Report Post »suz
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 3:32amwhen i was little, if there was bubble gum on the floor i’d eat it and according to the experts, it would be relatively safe. today, however, i wouldn’t put a truffle in my mouth if hit the floor.
Report Post »cuinsong
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 2:24amDo not eat off the floor period!
Report Post »Wolf
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 8:43amThat‘s why it’s picked off the floor… so you’re not eating off the floor. DUH.
Report Post »RamonPreston
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 2:23am“Science says” that if you dropped it on the floor, don’t serve it to me. And if you believe in the three second rule, I have bridge I would like to interest you in.
Report Post »cuinsong
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 12:06amDon’t eat off the floor period!
Report Post »jespasinthru
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 12:04amDon’t forget about the disease called Thrush. It’s caused by picking up things on the ground and putting them in your mouth, exposing your delicate oral membranes to virulent bacteria. It is a disease of babies and toddlers, because those are the only people who put groundstuff in their mouths. In the Third World it is a major cause of infant mortality. The symptom is small, numerous, painful open sores inside the mouth, which makes it so painful to eat that the baby eventually starves to death.
Report Post »Pro-Palin
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 12:24amMy wife and newborn son got that while I came back from deployment it was horrible couldnt eat certain foods and the painful blotches…. she had to take herself to the doctor and my son without my help 5 days after a C-Section.
Report Post »Chrison
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 12:03amBtw, I’m curious… was any of this research funded by the government? If so, how many millions did THAT cost the taxpayers?
Just wondering!
Report Post »dangmc
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 12:38am@chrison: If it was funded by a government, at least it wasn’t ours! (Daily Mail, Australian Broadcasting Corp.)
Report Post »dont_tax_me_bro
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 12:03amI thought it was 10 seconds. I mean 15. Or rather 5. Another pointless story…LOL!
Report Post »jespasinthru
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 12:29amIt has to be on the ground for less than one second. Infection of the object happens on contact.
Report Post »Buddynoel
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 2:08amThe first rule of the three-second rule is – you don’t talk about the three second rule to scientists.
Report Post »Fubared
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 7:35amBro, you should always pick up crumbs after an OWS event, or million man march, or lick the twister mat after a LGBLT get down. Just you bro, just you.
Report Post »Chrison
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 12:01am“Of all the germs that are on the ground or on the floor of your home, fecal matter is one of the most common contaminants says Dr Button.”
Fecal matter on the floor??? Not at my house! Personally, I use the toilet when I have to relieve myself. Now, if we’re talking about an OWS protest site, that’s ANOTHER matter!
Report Post »Doctor Nordo
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 12:13amUnless you never go outside then you almost certainly drag some amount of fecal matter into your house. Birds, bugs, and other animals crap all over the place and there’s almost no way to guarantee that you never step in it.
That said, I have no problems eating stuff after its hit the floor unless the floor is obviously disgusting.
Report Post »MAMMY_NUNN
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 12:54amMay I remind you of the disgusting spitting pig a few stories back.
Report Post »jespasinthru
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 1:06amMost Americans keep their floors clean. When I get home from work, the first thing I do is kick my shoes off so I can walk barefoot on that cold, clean tile. And on my days off I scrub it down to keep it that way. Cat and dog poop? No way. That’s why you take your shoes off when you come in my house. I don’t care how stinky your socks are, at least they don’t have any turds clinging to them.
Report Post »KyleD
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 3:52amYou drag fecal matter everywhere you go from when you enter the house to the next time you take a shower. It‘s a small amount but it’s there. When you go outside you expose yourself to it and then you bring it inside. That that it’s inside it spreads.
Not to mention the toilet, you think you save yourself when you wash your hands but the toilet sends out a jet of fecal matter every time you flush it. That gets on the floor and on your clothes, which you then track all around the house.
Point is there’s no escaping it, and you shouldn’t, because the more you’re exposed to bacteria the more resistant you become – the natural way. Antibiotics just makes bacteria more resistant.
Report Post »pwatkins
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 11:55pmI am more worried about the food I purchased from the store to begin with than food I prepared and dropped on my floor.
Report Post »jespasinthru
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 12:53amIf you’re so scared of grocery store food, then learn how to grow your own. Otherwise, shut up ya whiner!
Report Post »hatchetjob
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 11:56amJESPAS, You’re not very nice. PWATKINS has a good point, especially these days.
Report Post »TRILO
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 11:44pmWe are such a germ phobic society. Most people use powerful chemical cleaners that are more dangerous to their health than dropping a piece of food on their floor. If a piece of food drops on my floor I will pick it up. If it falls on the floor of a public place, it goes in the trash.
Report Post »MAMMY_NUNN
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 12:56amThat’s what canine friends are for.
Report Post »jespasinthru
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 1:13amAin’t that the truth? My big Wolfie Dog eats all kinds of food that falls on the floor, and it doesn’t bother him a bit.
Report Post »Baddoggy
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 5:10amThe germ phobai has caused us to use antibiotics to the point where they are not effective any more.
And this myth was on Mythbusters a couple of years ago. OLD NEWS BLAZE!
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 11:29pmI like what Pat Grey said today, “We are the only country in the world, maybe in history that has a Govt. that is telling us to eat LESS”. I guarantee, if you drop a sandwich in a pile of dog doo in Somalia, there would be a stampede to pick it up and eat it. And we are discussing the 3 second rule?
Report Post »hatchetjob
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 12:00pmGood point, DARMOK, and thanks for the humor (even though it’s true about Somalia).
Report Post »OlefromMN
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 11:28pmMythbusters busted this myth long ago. Bon Appetit.
Report Post »Rowgue
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 11:58pmSort of. They busted the time element of it, but did anyone really actually believe that anyway? The three second rule wasn‘t a serious scientific theory it’s a silly saying people use to justify picking something up off the floor and eating it.
What both they and this study found, was that the time was essentially irrelevant and the important factors were just exactly what you were dropping and where you were dropping it. Dropping a slice of bologna on the sidewalk is going to be different than dropping a ******* on a relatively clean kitchen floor.
But that’s all common sense, you don’t really have to be a scientist or do a study to realize that. Besides how clean do people really think their plates are. Unless you‘re washing them immediately before using them they’re filled with bacteria too.
Report Post »jespasinthru
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 2:55amThe Mythbusters get so many things so wrong. I watch them sometimes and I think “You don’t do it like that! You’re supposed to glue that! You don’t put that there! Turn it the other way!” They’re fun to watch, but sometimes they’re frustrating.
Report Post »But I do love their disclaimer: “Please, don’t try this at home. We are trained professionals.”
And they always leave out the second part: “However, we will give you step-by-step instructions on how to do it. So have fun blowing yourself up, fool!”
Mandors
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 7:39amMyth Busters busted NOTHING. They swabbed the floor then waited HOURS for bacteria to grow. Real scientific. You eat that cookie two seconds after it falls, five seconds, ten seconds, when is the bacteria going to grow? In the caustic acid of your stomach? No. Please.
Report Post »Cosmos102
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 11:26pmHas anyone thought about the germs that are deposited after blowing out candles on a birthday cake? Yet everyone has a slice of that! Just sayin’…
Report Post »jespasinthru
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 1:23amI saw that on a cartoon once. The kid had a cold on her birthday, went ah-choo! on the cake as she was blowing out the candles, and everybody at the party got a cold because they all ate the cake. The more things change, the more they remain the same.
Report Post »COFemale
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 11:22pmIn my own home, I have a seven second rule. If I am out in public, it goes in the garbage no matter how good it is.
Report Post »marine249
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 2:18amright on
Report Post »katie5
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 11:21pmGross.
Report Post »mharry860
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 11:19pmOf all the germs that are on the ground or on the floor of your home, fecal matter is one of the most common contaminants says Dr Button. Where the heck do these people live, there’s no fecal matter in my house.
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 11:26pmUm yes there is …. it gets it the air from evaporation from the bowl.
Report Post »GeeWhiz
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 11:30pmEver wear your shoes around the interior of your home? Have small children? Have a pet?
Then your floor is contaminated. Or you walk through a public bathroom and then eventually walk through your kitchen…Everywhere your shoes have been, leaves traces around your home.
And when it comes to going to the bathroom, all it takes is one small kid not washing his hands and touching things to spread e.coli. Touch that raw chicken while cooking and then touch anything in your kitchen?/ Salmonella and camphylobactor…
Cooties are everywhere.
Report Post »TheEDGE
Posted on May 3, 2012 at 11:49pmIf I drop my sandwich in Yosemite, I don’t hesitate to pick it up and finish it. I drop my sandwich in pee-drenched San Francisco and it becomes bum food.
Report Post »