New Delhi:
Suppose you're eating a pizza, and a bit of the pepperoni toppled off and landed on the floor. Would you snatch it up quickly and eat it? If you said yes, there's no need to feel ashamed, or alone. Research carried out at Birmingham's Aston University found that 87% (nearly nine out of ten!) people surveyed by the researchers admitted to picking up and eating dropped foods, particularly women.
Luckily for us all, the same researchers say that the "5 second rule" is real, so you've probably not been picking up mouthfuls of germs each time.
The five second, or seven second, or eight second rule, depending on whom you've heard it from, says that it takes a little time for food to pick up germs and if you grab it up fast enough, then you're not doing anything unhealthy. It's the sort of rule anyone would want to believe in, but it's usually always been accompanied by a "yeah, right" eyeroll as well.
However, the researchers - a group of final year students at the university - found that there is actually a significant time factor in the transfer of bacteria from the floor to food.
The students tested this with toast, pasta, biscuits and sweets, placing them on the floor and then picking them up and testing for common bacteria like E. Coli. What they found is actually commonsensical - moist foods were more likley to transfer bacteria; carpeted surfaces transfer the least amount of bacteria while laminated or tiled surfaces will transfer the most.
The researchers did caution that eating food dropped on the floor still carries and infection risk, but the fact that the 5 second rule isn't a myth sounds like reason to celebrate. By picking up that piece of pizza you dropped, and eating it!