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Numerous types of dangerous bacteria live on surfaces common for human contact, especially the floor. Eating food that has come into contact with the floor can lead to severe illness or even death from such bacteria.
In less than five seconds anyone could ingest salmonella and E. coli.
The phrase “Promptly picked up is not considered fallen” is believed to have originated in Russia. In the United States, it is called the five- second rule. The belief is that if fallen food is picked up within five seconds- no harm, no foul.
“You know that germs are here,” Diane Robillard, a registered nurse practitioner said. “There are high school kids here today, students from nursing coming in from the hospital; there are people from all over the place who come to school when they’re not feeling well. When students drop stuff on the floor, should they pick it up and eat it? It’s probably not worth it.”
Regardless of the amount of time, bacteria will cling to food. The variables that determine the amount of bacteria that will transfer to the food are the type of surface and the kind of food, according to scientists at Clemson University. They found that bacteria attach to food almost instantly on contact. The scientists put salmonella on tile, wood, and carpet and placed bologna and bread on the surface for five seconds. They found that more than 99 percent of bacterial cells were transferred from the tile and wood. The transfer to carpet was 68 percent. Even if a food is not moist or porous like meat and bread, bacteria still has the ability to attach itself to it.
Some bacteria release a compound called biofilm. This substance allows it to adhere to different types of surfaces and even food. Clemson scientist discovered that salmonella could live for up to four weeks on dry surfaces. The immune system is designed to fight off diseases, but if enough foreign bacteria enters the body, it can cause sickness and even death.
“Somebody who is immunocompromised would have an immune system that struggles to fight off something that would normally make us sick, some sort of pathogen,” Chris Bates, assistant professor of biology said. “A person with a normal immune system would get sick, but they would recover. Most of us, after a day or two, we’re fine. But someone who is immuno-compromised, they may need additional help to try to fight off that pathogen in the form of antibiotics or an anti-viral.”
According to Bates, it is hard to limit what type of germs a person may find on the floor. Germs are everywhere. They are all around.
“It depends on where people are coming from,” Bates said. “And the muddier it is, the more stuff people can literally track in.”
When feet are placed on a table or a chair, those same germs have been transferred to that area. The rule of thumb is when it comes to eating food that dropped on the floor or table, apply the no second rule.
The price for eating contaminated french fries far outweighs the price of the fries.
“For that two or three cents of your french fries, or even if it’s $2 or $4 if you dropped the whole thing, (being) sick for a day or two, or three or four, that would cost you a lot more,” Robillard said.
