Well, this is obviously a huge relief. It does not, however, address the corollary issue of how long it's okay to let one's dropped food sit in a cat-hair tumbleweed before picking it up and eating it (the food, not the tumbleweed, preferably). Perhaps those Connecticut College researchers could get back to me on that.
Posted by cynical at May 18, 2007 04:16 PMMythbusters found exactly the opposite results when they tackled the 5-second rule in episode 39. Once it's dropped, it's contaminated.
Posted by: Solonor on May 18, 2007 05:08 PMOur Catholic secretary said the 5 second rule should be accompanied by making the sign of the cross with the food as you pick it up.
Posted by: sue on May 18, 2007 07:55 PM5 seconds? You mean all this time I was wrong when I thought it was 5 *minutes*?
Posted by: adamg on May 18, 2007 08:44 PM30 seconds?
Yeah, it would be well and truly covered in cat fur.
Posted by: shelley (not-so-cynical) on May 19, 2007 12:37 PMFor me it totally depends on the floor. In a public place like the food court at the mall, or even in a restaurant, once it hits the floor, it stays there.
At home, where I am already awash in a sea of familial germs, anything shy of a couple of minutes is fair game.
Posted by: Brian on May 19, 2007 08:25 PMIf the Connecticut College researchers had disproved the 5 second rule then it is certain that every one us in the Flummel household would suddenly drop dead from accumulated instances of floor sampling. Maybe we should push the envelope and go for a 10 second rule...
Posted by: Karan on May 19, 2007 11:10 PM