What's the Rule Regarding Dropped Food?

[AgentSun]

10 seconds? 30 seconds? in a feat of stunning mastery, i managed to lift my fork to eat and in the process, flip my plate over the side of the desk, sending food careeing down to my lap. i rescued one from hitting the floor, but another one wasn't so lucky...is it safe to eat it? half of it hit the plastic floormat thing my chair is on, and the other half landed on carpet.

[Kathleen]

If it had just been the plastic thingie, I'd have said GO FOR IT... but the carpet? Hmmm... I'd say no on that.

When I was a kid, I know that we had the 5 second rule. If you could get the food off the floor in 5 seconds or less, you'd go ahead and eat it. I don't know if that is still in effect, but I know I'm still alive, so it couldn't have been THAT bad of a "rule".

[BlackThorn]

Depends on the cleanliness of what the food landed on, really.

[AgentSun]

i vaccuumed last week. :shrug: not really sure if i'd eat it, so i figure i'd get some opinions. so far it's still sitting here.

[JadedLegend3]

haha I eat pretty much anything. Well, that's not entirely accurate. There are some things in our fridge at work that have been there since the dawn of time that I won't touch with a ten foot pole. :hork:

Generally, I think the 10 second rule is a good one. :)

[LT Garrix]

Anything I drop at home generally gets eaten. Of course, I've lived out in the field while playing Marine where you are absolutely filthy, haven't bathed in two days and eat MREs so my standard of what's clean is a little dubious.

Back on the ship I was eating jellybeans and dropped one on the floor and picked it up and ate it anyway, quoting the 10 sec rule, and totally grossing out one of the guys. It's really amazing how much dirt your body can kill to keep your from getting sick.

If it's covered in carpet fuzz I won't eat it, but if it can be wiped or rinsed off, it's a go.

[AgentSun]

well i'm definitely past that!

at college, we have a 1 second rule. this is because the floor is so disturbingly gross that what food lands there, stays here. daring someone to eat it is in bad taste (hahaha no pun intended) because of the disgustingness of it.

the food wasn't that good to begin with...

[JadedLegend3]

well i'm definitely past that!

at college, we have a 1 second rule. this is because the floor is so disturbingly gross that what food lands there, stays here. daring someone to eat it is in bad taste (hahaha no pun intended) because of the disgustingness of it.

the food wasn't that good to begin with...


haha, at our college it was more like, "Dude! Is that a cookie? Is it blue yet? No? Then it's mine! I saw it first!" :lol

[AgentSun]

haha at college it's almost always "you want dessert? depends, are the cookies good? yeah that's true, when are they ever good?"

[Third EYe]

if it's not supposed to be crunchy, then don't eat it, but once you figured that out, it's too late, so just keep going.

if it don't make you sick, it'll make you constipated.

[scaperbuddy]

I think the 10 second rule is good. If the food doesn't have fuzzies on it. If it can be rinsed off all the better. In my house if food even gets a chance to hit the floor the dogs get it before I do cause they're quicker than me.

[AgentSun]

no fuzzies on it...but i think it might be God's warning for me to stay away from the greasy food morsel. ::looks at food:: sorry, dude, you're going to the trash.

[who45]

if it's not supposed to be crunchy, then don't eat it, but once you figured that out, it's too late, so just keep going.

if it don't make you sick, it'll make you constipated.:rollin: thanks I needed that laugh.

[AgentSun]

maybe we should take that advice third eye. the cafeteria employees complained that we wasted food...that's cause we'd stop eating it once we figured out it tasted horrible. maybe with your new advice, we wouldn't be so wasteful.

[Weetabix]

Never heard about that 10 seconds rule. Funny...

I generally don't eat stuff that have fell on the floor. If my fork or knife fall on the floor I replace it.

[LT Garrix]

Weetabix, depends where I am. If I'm out in a restaurant, it gets replaced, not eaten. Or at someone else's place that isn't my roommate from college. In college, it was all fair game. Sometimes the 10 second rule would be completely ignored.

I'm really not picky. I'm an outdoorsy type of person and am used to being dirty, though I do clean up real nice. :D I use manners when called upon.

[trubador]

5 seconds is the generally accepted rule, unless it falls on (a) the bathroom floor, (b) a puddle of mud, or (c) dog poop.

[JadedLegend3]

Hi trubs! :hi: Miss ya! :)

[trubador]

(psssssst.... you're much better than Katie Couric) :D

[JadedLegend3]

;) :kotc:

[PKBarbie]

When I was young and dropped food on the ground, my mother would simply pick it up, shake it a little, and hand it back to me - she said that eating dirt and other filth was good for my immune system - and that the acid in my stomach would kill anything really ugly - so unless my food dalls into an ashtray or a pile of yak dung, I eat it.

[AgentSun]

ugh that's kinda gross.

[eta_carinae]

I believe someone actually did a study on this and found that the length of time food was on a surface was irrelevant. The amount of bacteria and other nasty crap depended more on the texture of the food than anything else. So I would say, 5 seconds, 10, it doesn't really matter as long as you trust the surface it fell on!

[JadedLegend3]

Somehow that's not comforting! :D

[AgentSun]

i think i'lll stick to not eating things that i drop.

[BritAngie]

I think that's a wise idea.. it doesn't matter what state the carpet is in.. you have to think about all the *feet* and *shoes* that have been on that carpet and where *they've* been! :lol

Most people I know, if something is not wrapped and been dropped on the floor it goes straight in the bin. You may not be able to see the germs but they are still there. <g> Chances are it's nothing that will kill you but there are still some nasty things to be picked up if you are really unlucky. (One of my friends young kids got worms from crawling around on the floor too much and then frequently sticking her fingers in her mouth.. She wasn't going anywhere particularly mucky but she still got something nasty. :( )

I get freaked out about these studies where people have taken samples of nuts in shared peanut bowls they have on bars, and on handles in places and how much scary stuff turns up! Ewwwwwwwwwww

[Selena]

The 5 second rule only applies if you haven't dropped the food into something utterly http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/23/23_28_108.gif


...... I get freaked out about these studies where people have taken samples of nuts in shared peanut bowls they have on bars, and on handles in places and how much scary stuff turns up! Ewwwwwwwwwww

And then we get to the topic of people who use public rest rooms and don't wash their hands and go back to the bar (etc.,) and dip into the peanuts or pretzels :yuck:

[AgentSun]

or the food itself is really really good.

[Weetabix]

Actually worms can be useful in the treatment of allergies.


I get freaked out about these studies where people have taken samples of nuts in shared peanut bowls they have on bars, and on handles in places and how much scary stuff turns up! Ewwwwwwwwwww
They had found traces of different urines in those peanuts. Because unfortunately, most of the guys still don't wash they hand after they've been to the toilets. ;)

I prefer to eat some food I let fall in the ashes than to eat with my fingers after I took the metro.

[AgentSun]

ugh gross story time. and this has nothing to do with food...sort of...one morning, i was opening, and i was checking the fitting rooms, and propping them open so i can vaccuum. i stoop down to clear out a plastic cup and some cracker pieces, and i grabbed what i thought was a napkin. NOPE! NOT A NAPKIN!

3 guesses as to what it was.

not a napkin, not a food product, not that other thing that springs to mind, though it does involve blood. it was a bloody gauze/bandaid. my mind flashed back to the night before when i was working. i remembered a woman coming in with her child and the mother was being nothing but annoying and horrible. and guess what? her kid had a bloody gauze on her arm, like she had given blood. ugggh! it was soooo gross! i threw it out immediately and went into the bathroom, and washed my hands with antibacterial soap for 10 minutes.

[LT Garrix]

Interesting fact on the immune system, they have found that people who grow up in the super clean houses, ie dusted, vacuumed, sanitized daily, are more prone to having allergies. They have also shown that farm kids constantly exposed to dirt, dust and everything else have less allergy problems and less colds because their immune systems get a good workout.

[mgraylorn]

If I drop it at home, I inspect for carpet fuzz, cat hair, human body hair (my SO is very fuzzy) or dirt specks, or if it falls somewhere like a spot on the carpet where something nasty like cat vomit has recently resided. If none of those things are evident, I blow it off and eat it. I guess that's the 5 second rule.

If I drop it in a public place, I don't eat it, unless possibly it is godiva chocolate or something like that and I have dropped the whole thing. Then I would try to pick off the part that had not actually touched the floor or sidewalk and eat that. Just as an aside, have you looked at the nasty dishrags they wipe the tables off with in restaurants? Think about how many gross tables they wipe before they clean the dishrags. I try not to let my utinsels touch those tables.

Friend's houses depend on the friend. I recently visited a friend who's house was so clean, I'd eat off the bathroom floor because it was probably cleaner than my kitchen counters.

Out camping or hiking I tend to brush it off and eat it, unless it has landed on something disgusting.

[stellar]

5-seconds. Blow on it. Hold it above your head. You're in the clear.

10-seconds? Nope.

[Third EYe]

If I'm hungry enough, 5 seconds could be 5 days with a boot print on it, and i'm munchin it down.

[AgentSun]

i've never been that hungry!

[Third EYe]

I'm that hungry now.