Leave it to a scientist to completely misunderstand tradition.
The 3- or 5-second rule has nothing to do with bacteria. It’s about what’s nice and what’s disgusting, and that’s cultural.
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i think that the widespread use of the 5-second rule shows that a statistically significant amount of people eat food that has touched the floor briefly and are fine, thereby debunking the hysteria over floor germs.
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My rules are this: if it’s a moderately wet or greasy food, then I throw it away. If the floor is obviously wet or not very clean, I throw it away. Unless it’s a whole piece of cheese toast or pizza and then I’m all “whatever” and I eat it.
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So, we get a free throw, but not possession? 
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This a weird use of “conclusively debunked”, when carpet was explicitly called out as being rather inefficient at bacterial transfer.
And I still eat floor food, because I don’t make a habit of cultivating extremely toxic bacterial strains on my floors.
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I’ve always been uncompromising with my children in insisting that the five/three-second rule is utter nonsense, on a par with the various superstitions and subliminal advertising malignancies that I try hard to keep out of their innocent minds.
However I gotta confess that deep down I reckon their immune systems are probably up to it. My reason has more to do with that parental feeling that damn, they eat too much junk as it is - if they’re careless enough to drop some, then they just have to do without it. “Every piece of off-limits floor food is fractionally less artery blockage,” etc.
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Just trailing Mythbusters at this point.
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There is no “cherished” or “commonly held” belief that food is safe if it’s on the floor for less than five seconds. IT’S A FREAKIN’ JOKE! (i.e., a humorous way of saying “whoops”)
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Bad Science! There’s no control group, like testing the bacteria load of food dropped on the typical kitchen table or counter, or even a clean plate fresh from the dish rack.
That said, I’m with the group that says the likelihood of eating it varies inversely with moisture content of the floor and food.
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Exactly.
Also -
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So they have ‘debunked’ the theory by producing quantifiable evidence that more bacteria will get on to the food based on time? So, something on the floor for 6 seconds will have more bacteria than 5 seconds?
The rule only states that it’s ‘safe’. Wouldn’t sickness result only if you got a sufficient amount of a pathogen that wouldn’t be taken care of by your immune system immediately? So, the quantity of pathogen transferred in <= 5 seconds is not enough to make you sick, so technically safe, but, enough will get on at 6+ seconds to get past your immune system and make you sick. Of course, these numbers are bunk, but it is a testable hypothesis.
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I’m surprised anybody with dogs ever gets to apply the rule anyway. Some of my previous cats would check out anything that fell before 5 seconds (even if they then rejected it - one loved corn chips but thought potato chips were boring.)
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also today… Liesl! : (
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Can’t for the life of me remember where I heard this or even if it’s true or not, but in certain countries if you went to the chemist for constipation they might not have anything for it or give you a funny look because it wouldn’t be a common ailment there.
Some good bacteria can help us be regular and not being able to GO! Is pretty much a western thing with the over use of antibiotics, was told by a friend a long time ago to use those friendly bacteria drinks during a course of antibiotics to help settle the digestive system down if they make your system a bit off.
Never tried it as haven’t had any in about twenty years, so could be a load of bollocks?
I’d agree with that!
A malteser or something dry then yes after an inspection, I have two rescue dogs and cats so no matter how many times you clean and hoover it’s hair city here.
I listened to an interview with Dr. Denis Burkitt, who worked in Kampala in the mid Twentieth Century.
He explained that if someone came to his hospital complaining of sharp abdominal pain, they would first ascertain whether they could speak a Western European language. If they couldn’t, they didn’t bother checking for appendicitis.
Patients who weren’t, um, civilized didn’t eat civilized food - that is, over-processed European-style food - and thus had lots of fiber (whole grain, little twigs, bits of bark, fruit pits, etc) in their diet. They also tended to be much healthier than the Rwandans who had adopted Western diets and language. This observation led Dr. Burkitt down the path of understanding the importance of fiber in the diet.
And: Taking probiotics could interfere (as in ‘use up’) antibiotics. That said, yogurt with active culture can be very helpful in settling down upset stomachs and mild gingivitis. There’s a reason that raita, tzatziki, and their ilk are eaten by lots of people around the world.
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Band name
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You’re trying to ignite another world war, aren’t you. While @OtherMichael has hordendous taste in pizza, I can trust he has my back in the upcoming Dawg Wars.
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There have been many armistices, but the war has never been over.[quote=“japhroaig, post:40, topic:85651”]
@OtherMichael has hordendous taste in pizza
[/quote]
Thin-crust? He likes those abominable cheese crackers? Ew.
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I like pizza - you seen to be in favor of wet crackers.
As far as hot dogs go, black-box testing* seems to show there is nothing semi-solid you cannot put on a hotdog.
* My new favorite compound-weird.
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