Have you ever used the 5 second rule?

I'm not a germaphobe at all. Actually I'm quite the opposite. I've always said germs are good for you. They build your immunities and make you stronger. My kids play around on my floors that I mop once a week usually, and they rarely get sick. My youngest just started crawling, and I don't go to any special lengths to make sure the floors are clean. I make sure they're swept everyday, but that's about it. Like I said, my kids rarely get sick, and it's never much worse than a cold. Now I had a friend once who was a complete germaphobe. She scrubbed her floors on hands and knees, and even then would put her baby on a blanket when he was on the floor, and she'd always wash the blanket afterwards. The baby also had a bath every single day. At 5 months old her baby got bronchitis. To this day I don't know what bronchitis is because I've never had it and neither have any of my kids. The worst they got was last year 2 of my kids had the flu, but it was gone in 3 days. I think our strong immune systems are due to the fact that we are subject to germs everyday.

Funny thing Have you ever watched mythbusters on discovery they actually did several studies on this and found that the food dropped on the bathroom floor had lass bacteria than the food on the regular kitchen floor. LOL!! I think that is just too funny. Even though it still had bacteria it was less. LOL!! Also they had someone on the food network channel they have a new thing called food dectectives who also did this experiment which yep very very not good to eat food off the floor. LOL!!

Not around here...If it is on the floor it gets thrown away...That is if I can get it before the dogs do...LOL..I am so picky when it comes to this...Yuk!! I wouldn't eat it so no one else is going to either...

I might have said that before... But I don't know how I feel about admitting it. I never really thought it was a "health myth." I thought it was some strange thing that people said as a joke. I guess I should pay attention to if they eat it or not. Maybe I just never wanted to know. :)

I never use any rule. I just picked it up and eat it. ive done this for soooo many years and i never get sick.

A few germs never killed anyone.

Yes i did, and oh well. I say that mythbuster episode about the 5 second rule and they did the testing on wet and dry items. let say, the findings weren't that surprising. most of the things i allow are the small,dry things. it also depends where it was dropped. in the house, near the carpet is alright...maybe, but most of the house i say just throw it away. my nephew eats cereal off a blanket that he sits on when he's over here. kids do ten to put weird things into their mouth. but my son is learning and majority of the time it gets thrown away...now that i think about it. The most disturbing thing is the amount of fecal mater on your toothbrush.

i saw a study on tv about this. they dropped a piece of shrimp and a jelly bean on the floor. the shrimp already had signs of salmonella bacteria after a few seconds but the jelly bean did not show any. they said it might be because of the wetness of the shrimp. the bacteria stuck to the wet shrimp. i guess to never eat anything that dropped to the floor. just to be sure.

I highly doubt that the floor is any more bacteria-contaminated that a lot of other surfaces in our homes! I have definitely used the "5 second rule" but that depends greatly on the appearance of the floor at the time! I have been places where I hesitated to even walk on a floor, let alone eat something that has fallen on it!

Usually we do not use the eatable when some time fell on the floor by our self or from the child"s hand. Because on the same floor we walk with our shoes etc. it is not safe.

It was nice of you to share this info...I like these kind of information,,... I had never applied this rule ..normally , once it touched the ground...finished...no more counting...prevention is better than cure....

I used to go by the 5 second rule but after watching mybusters episode on it i decided to not do it anymore, unless i drop food in the bathroom. There was barely ANY bacteria on the toilet seat and its surroundings! CRAZINESS

Yeah, I saw the Food Network Show.. Food Myth or Myth Busters or something like that. They dropped an M&M, french fry, and fish in different areas: sidewalk, kitchen floor, and table. The M&M had some bacteria, but very little. The one that grabbed the most was the french fry because of the oils being able to attract more bacteria and soaking it in more. Also, you might think that the kitchen floor is cleaner, but in their test, the sidewalk actually had less bacteria than their kitchen floor. So yeah, watch out for that rule. People can get sick, but I mean I still do it with like a piece of candy dropped on the table or the carpet.... If it's actual food food, I wouldn't do it. It's just dumb.

i agree with you since the floor is full bacterias that would attack the humans body espcially if it was small in our house the rule is what fall to the groun is in the bascket

Good Post! Some of us do commit this error of picking up cookie or eatables from floor and assume that it would be safe. Thanks for enlightening us and informing us that it is not safe. I most of the time avoid picking up any eatable(s) from the floor and likewise I tell my kids not to pick up anything from the floor, if it has fallen. We just cannot see many bacteria with our naked eyes, but they may be very harmful to our health, so it is better and safe to be tempted.

*raises hand* I have used the 5 second rule before. I do have my limits though. No 5 second rule outside. No 5 second rule in houses with pets. No 5 second rule with foods that are moist and more likely to pick up germs. My kids do it all the time. They are a lot less picky about it than I am. I will stop them sometimes. They rarely get sick at all, so I am not too worried about them doing it. So, what about you? Have you ever used the 5 second rule?

OMG Where did this rule come from? If it hits the floor, it hits the trash! Even if I've just finished washing the floor, I would never allow anyone to eat something from there. I guess just the idea that it's the floor and people walk on it. No matter how often I wash it, the mop's always dirty, so it can't be sanitary. I'm glad this is a r never heard of!

well, I've done it before, it was when I'm at around 10years old or something, and I've never had a problem with my stomach afterwards :)

Not all the germs are bad for the health, my parents also practice that 5 seconds rule,everytime i food, my parent said, ohh quick pick it, it's not a 5 seconds yet. I know that once the food drop on the floor or somewhere,it has a bacteria or gemrs in it automatically. But sometimes we to immune our self to those germs and bactreia so that we can fight it and not so sickly.

Haha, I can't believe what kind of nut actually came up with this rule. And I'm surprised to hear of people crazy enough to believe it. Time has nothing to do with how much bacteria gets onto the food. Imagine some mud and treat it as bacteria. Dip a cookie into the mud and the mud still sticks to the cookie, no matter how fast you pick the cookie out of the mud. So, I think the same goes for bacteria...