For Daily Use Health & Medicine

It’s time to retire the five-second rule

Bacteria jump quickly onto dropped food

peanut butter and jelly sandwich face down on the floor

DON’T EAT THAT  Wet foods that fall on the floor pick up bacteria quickly, a new study suggests.

Mark Deibert/iStockphoto

By Laura Sanders

- More than 2 years ago

For some dropped foods, the five-second rule is about five seconds too long. Wet foods, such as watermelon, slurp up floor germs almost immediately, scientists report online September 2 in Applied and Environmental Microbiology.