Is the 5-second rule actually reliable?

Say wine, snacks or haute cuisine and the foodies of online food magazine FavorFlav know where to drink, how to eat it, and what to cook. This time our chefs serve you: the 5-second rule.

Every now and then, a slice of cucumber rolls off the cutting board onto the floor. Thanks to the well-known ‘5-second rule’, it often ends up in the salad rather than the trash can. Because in that short time, bacteria can't possibly strike, I've always been told. But is that really the case?

The origin of the 5-second rule
Julia Child, the most famous American TV chef of the 1960s, is said to have been the reason for the emergence of the 5-second rule. During her cooking show The French Chef, Julia dropped a potato pancake on the floor, after which she quickly put it back in the pan. She told her viewers that if you drop something and pick it up quickly, you can just use it. After all, no one would have seen it or noticed anything later...

The research
Scientist Paul Dawson decided to investigate whether the 5-second rule is actually true by looking at whether there are indeed fewer bacteria on food if it only lies on the ground for 5 seconds. For his research, he placed salmonella bacteria on different types of surfaces. 5 minutes later, he placed a piece of bread or a slice of deli meat on it and left it there for 5, 30, or 60 seconds. He then repeated this but left the food there for 2, 4, and 24 hours to measure the difference in bacteria.

The conclusion
What turns out? The number of bacteria on each piece of food was the same. Whether it had been on the salmonella surface for 5 seconds or 4 hours. So that 5-second rule? You can take it more loosely; that slice of cucumber you pick up after 5 seconds can still be safely tossed into your salad. As long as you can eat off the floor at your home.

But....
You are actually on the really safe side only if you let your cucumber fall on a dry surface. It's not so much about how long it lies on the ground, but on what kind of ground it lies. You'd better let your cucumber fall on carpet than on a wet surface. As long as your cucumber falls on a dry surface, it has fewer bacteria on it than on a wet surface.

Text: Favorflav