You drop a potato chip on the floor and pick it up within three seconds. Is it safe to eat? Does swallowed chewing gum stay in your body for seven years or forever? How risky is double dipping your chip? Learn the real answers behind these weird food facts and separate the truth from the myth.
Let us start with the three second rule. Growing up, we called it “Kissing it up to God.” In other words, if something fell on the floor but you still wanted to eat it, you could raise it to heaven and kiss it. The idea was that God would step in and bless the food, removing all traces of germs for you.
The Three Second Rule
If you drop something on the floor and pick it up within seconds, how dirty did it really get? Well, the answer is, it depends. Bacteria lives on most surfaces, no matter how clean they are. If you are standing on the floor, then chances are pretty good that there is bacteria standing on it as well (or whatever it is that bacteria does–the backstroke?).
Some surfaces are worse than others, though. non-porous floors, such as tile will give your food 99 percent of the bacteria resting on it, while a more porous floor, such as wood, will only contribute about 50 percent of its bacteria. Bacteria can live on surfaces for up to a month, just waiting to hitch a ride into your digestive track.
My advice is to toss the food. Believe me, I feel your pain. I once dumped a practically full bag of my favorite trail mix (it had chocolate!) on the floor and had to talk myself out of saving it.
By the way, tables, high chairs and the leg of your pants can still pass on bacteria, although these surfaces tend to have lower levels of bacteria when they are regularly cleaned. There is a reason people don’t eat off of the floor.