Is the five second rule actually true?

It's true if you want it to be! :)

[edit] Research

Although it has received little scholarly attention, the five-second rule has been studied as both a public health recommendation and as a sociological effect.

In 2003, intern Jillian Clarke of the University of Illinois found in a survey that 56% of the men and 70% of the women surveyed were familiar with the five-second rule, and determined that a variety of foods were significantly contaminated by even brief exposure to a tile inoculated with E.coli;[1] on the other hand, Clarke also found no significant evidence of contamination on public flooring.[2] Clarke received the 2004 Ig Nobel Prize in public health (a parody award) for this work.[3]

A more thorough study in 2006 using salmonella on wood, tiles, and nylon carpet found that the bacteria were still thriving after twenty-eight days of exposure under dry conditions.[4] Tested after eight hours' exposure, the bacteria could still contaminate bread and bologna in under five seconds, but a minute-long contact increased contamination about tenfold (with tile and carpet surfaces only).[5]

The five-second rule was also featured in an episode of the Discovery Channel series MythBusters. There was no significant difference in the number of bacteria collected from 2 seconds exposure as there was from 6 seconds exposure. The moisture, surface geometry and the location the food item was dropped on did however affect the number of bacteria.

I don't believe that it is really true since bacteria is everywhere good and bad however I think that if something hits the ground for only 5 seconds it's probably not enough bad bacteria to hurt ya!!! After all I'm still here.

All food will pickup bacteria from the floor.

Moist food will pickup bacteria much faster and easier than dry food. It also depends on how dirty the floor is that you dropped the food onto. I might eat a glob of peanut butter that fell onto my kitchen counter, but I wouldn't eat anything that had been dropped on the floor of a bathroom...

Both Food Detectives and Mythbusters have episodes where they research this. Their findings are, it's possible for any food to pick up bacteria from being dropped on the floor. It's also possible for that bacteria to be something noxious, like salmonella or e-coli. Whether or not it's a dangerous amount depends on how dirty the floor is, and how strong your immune system is.

No, it is just a myth. I saw something on Myth Busters about it. So, though some bacteria that food picks up on the ground might be harmless no matter how long its been there, it's better to be safe than sorry. I don't eat anything that dropped even if its been on the ground for a second.

No, any sort of contact will contract bacteria. The good thing is, that if you have a good immune system, that bacteria won't do anything.

So if it is a dry food, and it hits a dry surface, brush it up and eat it!

lol.

But if you're eating ice cream and it falls then no. If your eating crackers and it falls in a watery ground no!

dry to dry is my philosophy

Nope, that is not true. Bacteria exists everywhere, and if it touches something dirty it will contract it quickly. I mean, if it fell in the toilet you wouldn't pick it up and eat it. Basically same thing with the floor.

No because the first millisecond it goes on floor u cant eat it anymore

probably not but I personally don't worry about it. If it hit the dry floor and there isn't any visible dirt, I brush it off and eat it.

Nah, it's just an excuse that chefs invented so food wouldn't be wasted.

Here's some more info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-second_rule

no, because if you drop food in poo for 2 seconds there will be poo on the food. And poo has bacteria in it.(idk why you would drop food in poo, but yeah)