Food On The Floor, Would You Eat It?

Thanks for everyone's differing replies. I think some of this was ingrained in me by my mother. She yelled at my stepfather for dipping a clean sheet on the floor while folding it and raged at my brother when she said he didn't wash his hands. I don't know if he did or didn't.

I wash my hands when I get home etc. I just don't obsess about this stuff like I did when younger. If I had dropped a tylenol or motrin on the floor, in the trash. Now no problem. Though I can't tolerate motrin anymore.
 

I recall when my kids were small, a neighbor's kid they played with would sometimes place her baby carrots on the driveway. She would then proceed to eat them every time she took a break. She is still alive. I guess a little dirt goes a long way to healthy eating.

As for me, sometimes I would pick up a nut or a grape that fell on the floor and eat it. The only reason for that is I don't wear shoes in the house. I keep them all on a shelf in the garage. Plus, if I have like the AC tech over, I always remind them to bring shoes covers. So no outside shoes soil my floors.
 
Never heard of that 5 second old wive's tale. Mom had been a nurse and probably taught us to toss dropped food. Yesterday, one Skittles candy rolled onto my kitchen floor. I picked it up, rubbed it for a second on my cotton t-shirt, then did NOT toss it into the trash.

There are far more bacteria and virus on most of our cooking utensils surfaces than most people would expect. Ever been in a public restroom and notice certain fragrances? Would I eat even a Skittles dropped on such a public restroom floor. NOPE! So indeed would toss dropped food in many public areas. Out in nature, likewise most areas would not be tossers, say onto some granite bedrock. But that apple that fell into swamp water, NAY I SAY.

There is also considerable difference between what is dropped. Some moist item like a wet orange slice is vastly more an issue versus a whole dry apple that rolls onto one's home floor. So yeah where and the nature of food that touches a surface makes a huge difference in my own common sense decisions. Just breathing in a room with other people exposes people to micro organisms that readily cause head colds, influenza, and COVID-19. Such organisms in dry air may quickly die however some obviously don't which is why such situations can be contagious.

When we finally venture out onto other Solar System bodies, it will be impossible to totally prevent low levels of micro organism contamination. Likewise if aliens asked to land on Earth, the response from scientists despite usual popular media science fiction, would be a strong NO. In each of our bodies, there are as many bacteria as cells and 10 times as many virus. So we are walking zoos.
 
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RadishRose said:
That reminds me, if pets walk on the floor after stepping in God knows what when outside, NEVER. Not even a pill.
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That reminds me of our carefree childhood adventures. We would frequently take off to play in the park in the next street. No adults ever accompanied us. We would sit on the grass and make daisy chains. Also growing in the grass were some lilac-coloured flowers that developed into tasty little seed bulbs. We happily munched on them completely oblivious to the idea that dogs roamed as freely as we did and no doubt relieved themselves on the grass. No ill effects other than the occasional case of worms that children contracted from time to time.

This would have been more hazardous in rural areas because of the possibility of hydatids

Hydatid disease | Agriculture and Food
 
Nosy Bee-54 said:
I recall when my kids were small, a neighbor's kid they played with would sometimes place her baby carrots on the driveway. She would then proceed to eat them every time she took a break. She is still alive. I guess a little dirt goes a long way to healthy eating.

As for me, sometimes I would pick up a nut or a grape that fell on the floor and eat it. The only reason for that is I don't wear shoes in the house. I keep them all on a shelf in the garage. Plus, if I have like the AC tech over, I always remind them to bring shoes covers. So no outside shoes soil my floors.
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Didn't mention, I don't wear shoes in the house either. About the only thing I do that was demanded of us as kids. I may walk in with my groceries etc but the shoes stay by the door. My work shoes stay in the car and I change them out there.
 
I might if I could remove the portion of the food that had been in contact with the floor, but my habit is to throw things away if they land on the floor. Probably more confirmed in the habit by having microscopes in the past and seeing parasites that weren't visible to the naked eye. Not to mention all the dirt from dogs, cats, and tracking in who knows what bits of dirt from the chickens or horses (tho I did change my shoes, but sometimes I would 'just run out quick' and not bother using barn shoes).
 
For those of you who ABSOLUTELY wouldnt eat something that had fallen on the floor - - - -I hope that you've never eaten in a restaurant, high class or not. Back in the early 50's, when I was a teen, I worked as a busboy in a high class private club. In the kitchen, the things I saw dropped, picked up, put back on the plate - - -well, enuf said.
 
palides2021 said:
I am like @DebraMae and @OneEyedDiva !! I would not eat anything that dropped on the floor, the counter, and even the stove top. Having worked in a biological lab for many years, and being careful about sterility, it had become ingrained in me not to eat anything outside of its intended "home."
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Now that you mention it, I also will not eat anything that's dropped on my counter or stove unless those areas were just sterilized.
 
The five second rule is a myth (wishful thinking) inadvertently started by Julia Child who dropped a potato cake, (not on the floor, but on the stove), she put it back in the pan and resumed cooking. Yet people insist it was on the floor. Bacteria can attach to food as soon as it hits the floor especially foods with wet surfaces. Having said that, if I am facing starvation, I will eat the floor!
 

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