If you’ve ever accidentally dropped a piece of food on the floor
and swiftly retrieved it because you did it within ‘the three
second rule’, scientists believe that you might be onto
something. Researchers from Manchester Metropolitan University
(MMU) discovered that the old age ‘three second rule’ when it
comes to food dropped on the floor momentarily is safe – but
mostly with salty, fatty processed foods. During the study,
researchers tested five different food items (cooked pasta, ham,
biscuits, dried fruit and jam) to find out how long it take them
to pick up bacteria (if any) three, five and 10 seconds after
being dropped on the floor. Although processed foods, which are
high in fat, salt and sugar, have little nutritional value, they
fared best during the bacteria tests. Researchers discovered
that processed ham, bread and jam posed less risk, as all of
these food items had little or no bacteria growth when retrieved
off the floor. “Ham is a processed meat preserved with salt and
nitrates which prevents