Food waste is something we should strive to avoid. £10.2 billion is lost annually ($ 15.5 billion) on wasted food in the U.K. In the United States, 15 percent of all edible food ends up untouched or unopened, which amounts to $ 43 billion in waste. Considering those staggering numbers, it would make sense the five second rule of picking dropped food up within the nick of time would be a vestige of the cash conscious. However, a Clemson University study by food scientist Paul Dawson points toward discarding the five second rule like yesterday’s scraps, reports the Chicago Tribune.
Dawson: The five second rule should be a zero second rule
Considering that salmonella and other bacteria can live for up to four weeks on dry surfaces and instantly contaminate food on contact, perhaps Dawson is on to something. Previous collegiate studies used apples and Skittles on a college dining room floor. Apparently the apple slices only showed infection after a one minute, while the Skittles took nearly five minutes to become infected. 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.
Mind the location, not a time interval
The time frame amounts to pseudo-science, says Dawson and his supporters. Kitchen and bathroom floors are littered with harmful germs, according to nearly any study one would care to name. They’re scary, but other surfaces like sidewalks are typically less so. Believe it or not, that sidewalk is probably much less germ-ridden than the floors of your home.
Five seconds as part of your mind
Like any person else, the Tribune knows that you’ll pick up something if you really want it. As a result; studies have found that cookies and candy are likely to be retrieved, as opposed to broccoli. And here’s food for thought – studies related to Dawson’s work found that women were more likely to pick up and continue eating dropped food than their male counterparts.
Citations
featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/features_julieshealthclub/2010/07/debunking-the-fivesecond-dropped-food-rule.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_waste
