I’ve always gone by the 20 second rule. It appears I’ve been shortchanging myself.

Two Connecticut College students actually set out to test the 5 second rule - you know, the one where if you drop your food on the floor, and as long as you pick it up within 5 seconds, it’s ok to eat? What they found is that wet food (they tested apple slices) is actually good for at least 30 seconds before bacteria starts to cultivate on the food. Dry food (skittles) actually takes about 5 minutes!

So the next time you drop your food, just pick it back up and brush off anything that’s crunchy or moves on its own, and eat it! Anything else would just be wasteful.