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A peck is a quarter of a bushel. Growing up in farm country, I was expected to either live closer to the dirt or live lionger---I was told I'd eat a bushel of dirt---four times as much as city slickers. By the way, another thing I learned in farm country is that there is nothing cleaner than dirt, and a farmer can tell what nutrients the soil needs by tasting it.
I watched an episode of "Mythbusters" on this very subject awhile ago.
I never really did eat anything that fell personally, but after watching that, I am incapable of watching anyone else do it either. I share with them (in graphic detail) the things I saw on that episode. If it's a child, I simply get them a new "whatever it was".
When you think about it, it takes only touching the floor for something to pick up any bacteria or germs that might be there. For instance, you walk outside, as do your pets. You bring in all kinds of microscopic stuff on the bottom of your shoes, or the pet's feet. You and/or your pets walk on the floors in your home and what is on the bottoms, rubs off on the floor.
Say you walk over a spot some ailing man spat on, or where an animal urinated, or any other disgusting thing you can think of, while you or a family member was out (and kids don't exactly watch where they step). You carry whatever you walk on and pick up on the bottom of your shoes into your house. Yep, if you eat what is dropped where someone has walked, you are putting it all in your mouth.
Say you have an indoor pet. Cats usually use a litter box, yeah, I'd like THAT in my or my child's mouth after the cat walked just before someone dropped a snack.
Say you have a dog that does that most disgusting thing of rubbing it's behind on the floor to scratch it. Yeah, then Junior drops a cheerio on that same place and pops it into his mouth.
Dirt? Plain old-fashioned dirt is cleaner than what people can pick up walking where others trod.
Like I said, it only takes touching the floor to for something to pick up whatever it is you bring in on your shoes or what your pet may be spreading on your floors.
But I suppose if you don't think about what could have gotten on your edible, it won't hurt you...
Seriously, I'm way not a fanatic, but things like that I think about.
It depends on what it is, where it fell and who is over. If it is something 'wet' then no...we don't eat that off the floor. If it is a fruit snack that fell on the carpet for 3 seconds...sure, eat it up.
Mythbusters "busted" the theory that time was a factor in whether or not a food item collected bacteria. 2 seconds vs. 30 seconds... same amount of bacteria on the food.
If we had pets, I might consider scrapping the 5 second rule, but as it is, our floors are fairly clean. We don't wear shoes in the house. I suppose someone might run out in slippers to bring out the recycling and step where a cat peed or where someone spit on the sidewalk... but honestly, I just do'nt dwell on such things. Someone might have licked the grapes at the grocery store, or went potty and did not wash their hands and then touched some of the apples... and yet we just give them a quick rinse before ingesting. There are germs in the world, and most of them will not kill you or even make you sick.
I know that it's really ok, but I just can't bring myself to eat something off the same floor my cats walk across after using the litterbox
A friend (whom I have to add is an M.D.!!) had 2-3 or 3 cats that had the run of her house. She was making us cookies and the one cat was sitting in it's favorite place (dish drain rack) or up on the cabinet. She looked kind of sheepish when she shooed her out. Because I have never had animals in the house I just looked kind of blank. She had to explain that it wasn't real sanitary because when they sit their tail is up behind them in the air so guess what was directly on the counter or on the dishes in the drain rack.
She may have been a great cook but I lost my desire for her home cooking right then.
Do you observe the five-second rule in your house?
Definition
Five-second rule: If something falls on the floor and is picked up within five seconds, it is still clean.
No, my dog can pick something up in three seconds.
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