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When food falls, how safe is the five-second rule?

When a child’s cookie falls on the floor, a clock starts ticking in the minds of parents

By James H. Burnett III

 |  Globe Staff  

  March 13, 2012

It’s been nine years since a college intern dared question pop-culture convention and test the so called “five-second rule,’’ by which parents of small children weigh the risk (or safety) of food that’s fallen on the floor or ground. The issue has been argued by academics ever since. But there has been some change: Many parents, who found it gross in the past, are more accepting of the “rule,’’ these days.

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