They were floored by the results.
Everyone’s picked up food fast to prevent contamination — but is this method tried and true or merely an old wives’ tale? A Chicago microbiologist has put the so-called “five-second rule” to the test to scientifically gauge if it’s safe to eat food that’s fallen on the floor, as seen in a TikTok clip with over 1 million views.
“I thought it would be fun for people to know all the little nastiness that we don’t think about every day,” Nicholas Aicher, senior quality control analyst, told Jam Press.
The researcher has amassed nearly 450,000 followers on his TikTok channel, where he uploads videos of himself testing the cleanliness of everyday items, from gas pumps to toothbrushes and even the inside of a dog’s mouth.
For his latest hygiene experiment, Aicher decided to place a petri dish on the ground for various time limits ranging from zero seconds to one minute.
He then incubated the samples in a cultivator to see the extent to which they bore bacterial fruit.
As it turns out, every sample had evidence of microbial growth, proving that no amount of floor time is safe when it comes to contamination.
“Looks like even 0 seconds is too long,” declared the scientist while holding up the corresponding petri dish, which was freckled with white bacterial spots.
Coincidentally the five-second sample had roughly the same amount of growth, effectively disproving the rule.
At one point, Aicher accidentally drops this dish while moving it, leaving an unsightly white splotch on the table.
Meanwhile, the 10-second dish had a “bit more” bacteria, while the ones left for 20 and 30 seconds had noticeably more than that.
Interestingly the sample left for one minute had the same amount as the five-second one.
From these findings, Aicher concluded that whether the food is left for “five seconds or 60, it’ll be nasty either way.”
Viewers were revolted over the results with one gawker writing, “never eating food from the floor again.”
“Nooooo I LIVE by the 5-second rule!” wrote another, while a third quipped that the microbes provided “extra flavour.”
Despite the petri-fying findings, many five-second rule stalwarts refused to swear off eating grub from the ground.
“I’ll pretend I didn’t see this so I can keep blissfully doing the 5-second rule,” declared one stubborn fan.
“The real factor is just how badly you don’t want to waste what was dropped,” observed another.
One skeptic scoffed, “Meh. I was doing the 5-second rule throughout my childhood and I’m still healthy.”
However, others thought that the results were, well, tainted by the fact that Aicher didn’t have a “control” sample that was only exposed to the air.
