If you've been living by the five-second rule your entire life, the age-old principle that says food that's been dropped on the floor is still safe to eat if picked up within five seconds or less, prepare to question everything you've ever known about food and germs. A new study has just discovered that the five-second rule should really be the 30-minute rule for certain foods. Game changer!
According to Daily Mail, a study out of Aston University in Birmingham, England, "rigid foods"- such as cookies, sandwiches, dry toast, and chocolate- can be on the floor for up to 30 minutes with little increased risk of attracting germs. Not only do they pick up much bacteria on the floor, they also do not get any additional contamination over society.
The study did find, though, that certain foods are more likely to pick up more bacteria the longer they remain on the floor. Those foods include things such as cooked pasta, chips, donuts, sweets, and buttered toast. The five-second rule probably still applies to damper, sticker foods, which can quickly pick up bacteria.
It also matters what type of flooring the food falls onto! Foods dropped on laminate or tile become more contaminated than those dropped on carpet.
Germaphobes rejoice! It is generally safe to eat all food that has been dropped on a residential floor that is mopped or vacuumed once a week, no matter the timing.