It goes something like this: if you retrieve food dropped on the floor or another surface within three or five seconds, it won’t yet be contaminated with bacteria.

Health Canada tightens food safety regulations by changing 5 second rule to 3 seconds December 6, 2017 by Alex Huntley ( @ajhuntley ) OTTAWA – Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency are changing their food safety regulations and guidelines on eating something that fell on … The five-second rule, sometimes also the ten-second rule, is a food hygiene myth that states that there is a defined window where it is permissible to pick up food (or sometimes cutlery) after it has been dropped and thus exposed to contamination. Almost everyone has dropped some food on the floor and still wanted to eat it. As a food microbiologist, I have always been amazed at people’s belief in the three- or five-second rule. Okay, it might just be wishful thinking. This so-called rule says food is OK to eat if you pick it up in 5 seconds or less. The 5-Second Rule for Dropped Food There may be some actual science behind this popular deadline for retrieving grounded goodies By Larry Greenemeier on March 25, 2014 If someone saw you drop it, he or she might have yelled, "5-second rule!"