2024-05-14 04:09:18
Is the so-called ‘5 second rule’, which states that if you pick up food dropped on the floor quickly, there will be no major hygienic problems, a myth that can be trusted?
According to a survey, one in two people thought it was safe to eat food that fell on the floor.
Accordingly, Dr. Sumed Murser, a doctor and writer based in London, England, warned in a recent TikTok post that this myth is not accurate.
Dr. Merger said scientists have examined the transfer of bacteria to food dropped on various surfaces, including wood, tile, and carpet, and found that colonies of harmful bacteria, such as Salmonella, which can cause food poisoning, and Campylobacter, which causes bacterial enteritis, are found ‘on the floor.’ They said they could ‘survive for up to four weeks’ and that they discovered that when food was dropped on a tile, 99% of the colony was transferred ‘immediately’.
The case mentioned by Dr. Merger is the result of a study conducted by Professor Paul Dawson’s team in the Department of Food Science at Clemson University in the United States to end this controversy.
In 2007, Professor Dawson and his colleagues discovered that harmful bacteria such as Salmonella and Campylobacter can survive on the floor for up to four weeks.
Professor Dawson’s team tested how quickly bacteria on the floor transfer to dry food (bread) or moist food (Bolognese sausage).
As a result, the longer the food stayed on the floor, the more bacteria it transferred. When food is dropped on a tile surface, 99% of the bacteria living there instantly rush to the food and form a colony. Although it varies depending on the weather, 50% of them flock to the bottom of the tree to form a colony. On the other hand, when food is picked up on a carpeted floor within 5 seconds, less than 0.5% of the bacterial population is transferred to the food.
Colonization spread increases the longer food remains on the bottom. Therefore, the ‘5 second rule’ does not apply to floors other than carpet.
In 2016, Professor Donald Schaffner, a food scientist at Rutgers University in the United States, and his student Robin Miranda also revealed the falsity of the ‘5 second rule’. They found that the longer food sits on a bacteria-covered surface, the more bacteria stick to it, but as soon as the food hits the floor, there’s already a good amount of bacteria stuck to it.
They found that the biggest problem was not time, but moisture. They experimented with a wider variety of foods. The results revealed that moisture-rich foods attract more bacteria than dry foods. Carpeted surfaces absorbed the bacterial solution used in the experiment and transferred fewer bacteria to the food compared to tiles.
Dr. Merger emphasized in the video’s caption that some harmful bacteria can live on the floor for up to four weeks. “Invasive bacteria, such as salmonella or campylobacter, pose a risk of causing illness if one consumes contaminated food or water or something that has been in contact with infected animals or surfaces,” he explained.
“These bacteria survive and multiply in the gastrointestinal tract and can cause symptoms ranging from mild gastroenteritis to serious illness that can be life-threatening,” he warned.
However, despite these warnings, the ‘5 second rule’ is likely to continue.
This is because many people still casually pick up food that falls on the floor and eat it. Many experts claim that harm is unlikely if a person with a healthy immune system follows the ‘5 second rule’ in a relatively clean environment.
Park Hae-sik, Donga.com reporter [email protected]
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2024-05-14 04:09:18