Let’s get this out of the way early: We adhere to the five-second rule in our house.
Regardless of whether you do or not, here’s my reasoning: If it tasted good five seconds before you dropped it on the floor, it’s probably going to taste as good five seconds after you pick it up.
We fudge a little with the girls. If it’s a French fry, the rule no longer applies. If it’s candy, we’ll follow the rule to the letter.
The N.Y. Times explores the five-second rule citing a Clemson University scientific paper that looked at the wisdom or folly of following the rule. They basically created a petri dish of nasty bacteria and stuck some bread and bologna down to see if time affected the amount of crap you can pick up.
In some instances, you get less goop on your food if you pick it up quicker. But the Times suggests an addendum to the rule, or Five-Second Rule.v2: Pickup up the goodie, but think about how many bugs are traipsing on it before you shove it in your mouth.
Well, we’re not dead yet.