It's Still Good!

Researchers at Clemson University have disproved the "five-second rule", showing that food items dropped on various floor surfaces for only 5 seconds still picked up as many as tens of thousands of bacteria such as salmonella.

On surfaces that had been contaminated eight hours earlier, slices of bologna and bread left for five seconds took up from 150 to 8,000 bacteria. Left for a full minute, slices collected about 10 times more than that from the tile and carpet, though a lower number from the wood.

The researchers deliberated contaminated the surfaces though, so those of us with pristine floors don't have to worry. Right? Sigh.