A piece of food drops to the ground. You pick it up and make one of life's most difficult decisions. Is the 5 second rule valid or not?

The five-second rule is that if you pick up a dropped piece of food before you can count to five, it’s O.K. to eat it. Suprisingly, a federal judge has decided that a 30 second rule in fast food resturants is both reasonable and fair.

"Food gets dropped", said Fast Food 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 and 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. She cited the testimony of Anne Bernhard, an assistant professor of biology at Connecticut College who put the 5 second rule to the test.  Bernhard's research team dropped apple slices, a wet food, and Skittles, a dry food, on the cafeteria floor and measured the results. The research results showed that 30 seconds was probably safe for moist food and up to a minute could be safe for dry food. Berhard concluded that it would be safe for a burger to be on the floor for 30 seconds and a bun for 60 seconds.

Citing the need for reasonable accommodation for handicapped workers while still protecting public health, Judge Judge ruled that 30 seconds for retrieving fallen food was a standard the industry should follow. FFI spokesperson Moore says they plan to appeal the decision.