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Hadrian said 04/29, 04:32 AM
You hear it everywhere - the sound of a piece of food hitting the ground, immediately followed by someone yelling, "five-second rule!" The prospective eater must then pick the food up off the floor and make one of life's most difficult decisions: to eat, or not to eat.

The fast food industry made their decision. The 5 second rule rules. A judge disagrees.

"Food gets dropped", said industry spokesperson Eton Moore. "Lots of it would go to waste without the 5 second rule. If we had to throw away every food item that hit the floor, that would slow down our service and drive up our costs. However, more than 5 seconds would also slow down service. Ad it would put our customer's health at risk".

Friends of the Handicapped has a different view. "Not all of the people working at a fast food restaurant can retrieve a fallen food item in just 5 seconds", says FOH spokesperson Floe Down. "Some people need more time".

FOH brought suit in federal court to force the fast food industry to allow workers more time to pick up fallen food.

Judge Ima Judge ruled in favor of FOH, citing the need for reasonable accommodation for handicapped workers while still protecting public health.

Hadrian said 04/29, 11:59 AM
In ruling in favor of Friends of the Handicapped, Judge Ima Judge cited testimony of Anne Bernhard, an assistant professor of biology at Connecticut College. Bernhard and her students put the rule stating that food can be picked up and eaten if it doesn't remain on the ground for more than 5 seconds to the test.

The research team dropped apple slices, a wet food, and Skittles, a dry food, on a cafeteria floor and measured the results. They concluded that 30 seconds was probably safe for moist food and up to a minute could be safe for dry food. [1]

Berhard testified that it would be safe for a burger to be on the floor for 30 seconds and a bun for 60 seconds. Judge Judge ruled that 30 seconds for retrieving fallen food was the standard the fast food industry should follow.

Hadrian said 05/02, 01:43 AM
In other news, research by the University of Arizona last year found the average office desktop harboured 400 times more bacteria than the average office toilet seat. They also found that, compared to men, on average women have three to four times the amount of germs in, on and around their work area.

Microbiologist Dr Peter Wilson said a keyboard was often "a reflection of what is in your nose and in your gut".

So, when meeting up with a colleague at a fast food restaurant, it seems you should be more concerned with not shaking their hands than with an extra 25 seconds your food was on the kitchen floor.

And perhaps laptops should be banned from restaurants as well!


[1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7377002.stm