Foods that Fall Not 5 Minutes, Is It Really Still Eaten Safe?

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We've all done it before - dropped food on the floor, hurriedly picked it up, wiped it here and there a little, then continued to eat it. While some people very strongly refused to include any food that had fallen to the floor, no matter how long.

Most Indonesian people must be familiar with the principle of "not yet five minutes, still can be eaten". This "not yet five minute" myth argues that if a piece of food only takes a few seconds on the floor, dirt and germs do not have enough time to pollute the food.

Where did this "not five minutes" principle start?

Jillian Clarke, an apprentice student in a microbiology laboratory at the University of Illinois, was the first person to investigate this urban myth scientifically in 2003. Clarke and his research team implanted a colony of E. coli bacteria - the cause of abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting - in two media type: rough and smooth tiles. Then, he placed a jelly candy and pastry on both types of tiles for five seconds. As a result, E. coli bacteria move from the smooth floor to the food within five seconds, even faster on the type of smooth tile surface.

However, what is not taken into account from this study is that the laboratory floor is indeed very clean and sterile - like other laboratories in general - and is not done on wet floor conditions, carpets, or other types of food, such as gum or ice cream. Clarke argues that the condition of dry floors does not allow many pathogens, such as salmonella, listeria, or E. coli to live, because bacteria need moisture to breed.

The food fell to the tile floor and that fell onto the carpet

Reporting from The Guardian, a 2007 study by Paul Dawson, a professor of food technology at Clemson University, found that the level of dirtiness of the floor was a more important factor than how long a piece of food sat on the floor. Using a piece of bread and a slice of smoked meat, he points out that it is better to drop food on carpeted floors - which have already been planted with salmonella colonies - where only less than 1% of bacterial contamination occurs, rather than on the surface of tiles or wood floors, which show 70 % bacterial contamination of food.

Another study from Aston University, quoted from CNN, found that, as soon as food touched the floor surface, the food would be directly contaminated - especially on smooth surfaces - but the number of bacteria in food would increase tenfold after 3-30 seconds piled on the floor.

Ronald Cutler, microbiological professor from the University of London, was quoted from NHS, argues that the principle of "not five minutes" has little impact on the amount of bacteria in your food from the surface of a heavily polluted floor. According to the results of his research, each food tested - on various types of surfaces with various types of bacterial colonies and different periods of time - was equally contaminated. He further suggested, do not care on the floor or on the carpet, once the food falls, you should just throw it away.

So, can you eat food that has fallen "not yet five minutes"?

From a food safety perspective, if you have millions of cells of microorganisms on a surface, 0.1% is enough to make you sick. In addition, some types of bacteria are classified as very malignant, and only a small amount can make you sick. For example, 10 cells or less of certain E. coli species can cause severe illness and death in people who have a weak immune system.

However, bacteria are everywhere, even when you sweep and mop the floor cleanly. Germs and bacteria do not just stick to the ground to wait for the opportunity to land on falling food, which is inversely proportional to people's trust so far. At one time, there were more than nine thousand microorganisms from different species hiding in every dust in our homes, including 7,000 different types of bacteria, reported from BBC. Most of them are benign.

Germs and bacteria are also present throughout our bodies, every time. Humans continuously shed bacteria through dead skin and the air we breathe. Researchers even found that on average humans produce around 38 million bacterial cells in the surrounding environment every hour.

If you are among those who are unlucky to have a house floor filled with colonies of malignant bacteria, it is likely that this bacterium is also found on the walls or door handles of your home. One study published in 2006 found that there was less risk of salmonella exposure in five seconds than one minute, but the risk remained. Although it is actually very low in probability, these malignant bacteria oscillate against the general surface of the household.

In other words, when you consider picking up food that has fallen for the reason that "it's not five minutes", just take it. Even so, young children and the elderly are not recommended to follow this principle, because their immune systems may not be able to protect them even from a little exposure to bacteria.

If the floor surface is very dirty, or you are not sure, then this principle may not apply on the basis of instincts of disgust and defilement. However, your chances of getting sick from eating food that falls on the floor are very small.

You can still contract the disease from bacteria at any time and in any way, regardless of whether you eat the food that has just been picked up from the floor. There is no magical barrier between your body and the world of bacteria, so even strict personal hygiene will not guarantee you are free of bacteria.

The important thing to remember, diseases caused by bacterial contamination can be avoided by maintaining personal hygiene, such as diligently washing hands, cleaning the house, and preparing and cooking food ingredients properly.

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