Clovers In The Atmosphere

oh holy hell!

I have seen this link on not one, but two of my friends blogs. friends that are smarter than I am (and run very good blogs, BTW). This is a terribly misinterpretation of the results of a microbiological study. Apparently some dudes from Clemson thought it would be cute to test the 5-second rule for food by dropping bologna onto a variety of bacterially loaded surfaces to see how much bacteria got on the food. unsurprisingly, bolongna with its high water content and associated adhesive powers picked up some bacteria. not all that much. but some. more than the infection dose for really bad bacteria. conclusion: fear every surface in your house and never pick up dropped food!!

no.

first, most people don't eat dropped deli meats, because of their adhesion makes them pick up dust and rocks too which makes them highly unpalatable once dropped. this study would be more useful if performed on cookies or pieces of bread or other things that are actual subjects of the 5 second rule.

second. if you douse your surfaces in high concentrations of infections E. Coli, you probably ingested it anyway at some other point when you placed your hand on the counter or ate the original bacteria laden food. it is not like suddenly leaving dropped food will save your life. the five second rule rarely applies to gas station bathroom floors (unless they are BP gas stations of course).

third, you ingest lots of bacteria all the time. sorry, it has to be said. you do. your body is designed to handle it. why do you think the pH of your stomach is 2. your caveman ancestors didn't have lysol.

fourth, the times article draws the larger conclusion about behavior modification to avoid infection from dropped food (which hopefully the scientific authors were smart enough to stop short of) only leads to this continuing microbiological hysteria. the attempt to sanitize our lives is not only futile, it is also harmful. the development of anti-biotic resistant bacteria as well as sky-rocketing rates of child allergies (no one died when I brought PB+J to camp) have been linked to overly sterile environments in early childhood which deprives the immune system of instruction and differentiation about bacteria. this study was about microbiologist showing that water-soluable bacteria is transferred to wet surfaces. wow. thanks, microbiologists. it only becomes a public health study when you see how that activity effects health. please keep picking up your dropped M+Ms. please.