When food escapes from the plate and tumbles to the floor, it ends up either in our mouths or in the vacuum cleaner. Who's right and who's wrong? Is this stray piece of food, this off-piste adventure, unfit for consumption or can it still be eaten without risk? A doctor weighs in.<\/p>\n
You're in the middle of a meal when your potato croquette escapes from your plate and lands on the freshly scrubbed floor. While hygiene fanatics and hypochondriacs wouldn't risk it and would simply discard the stray morsel as food waste, you don't waste a single bite. You bring it to your mouth and reassure yourself, thinking, "It's not a big deal, it'll build up your antibodies." After all, our ancestors used the same knife for everything and didn't wash their hands before a feast.<\/p>\n
You rely on the "five-second rule," taught to you by your parents, and you pick up that stray piece of food immediately before the germs can take root. But whether the food has been on the ground for three seconds or ten minutes makes no difference. It's a bit of an old wives' tale. Dr. Jimmy Mohamed was very clear on RTL's morning show<\/a> . You should never eat food that has been in contact with the ground, even for a short time. The ground may look perfectly clean, but it contains thousands of microbes invisible to the naked eye, but definitely felt by the body. Escherichia coli, salmonella, staphylococcus\u2026 all these bacteria<\/a> are teeming beneath your feet.<\/p>\n Eating food that's fallen on the floor can easily lead to a nasty case of gastroenteritis. Prevention is better than cure, so avoid tempting fate by acting as a garbage disposal. The most followed doctor on the internet is adamant: "Food that falls on the floor should go in the trash." And not in your stomach.<\/p>\n Obviously, when food falls on the greasy, sticky floor of a fast-food restaurant, you're not going to touch it. However, when it lands on a floor you've painstakingly cleaned, you give it a chance and make a small gesture towards reducing food waste. And that's a bit more "tolerated" in this situation. A place where you walk around in slippers is cleaner than a place trampled by dirty shoes, that much is obvious.<\/p>\n The type of food is also important. The more "moist" it is, the more easily it attracts bacteria. So, a piece of cooked chicken or a strawberry is more likely to cause problems than a dry cake or a cracker. However, there's no such thing as zero risk. You won't necessarily be hogging the bathroom the next day, but it's still a possibility. This small dietary choice, which would surely alarm our dear Monk, will also have a greater or lesser impact depending on your immune system<\/a> .<\/p>\n When food falls on the floor, you have this almost unconscious little habit: you blow on it as if your breath had antiseptic properties. A habit inherited from your parents, no doubt. However, this reflex, which you think is beneficial, is counterproductive. It only makes your food worse.<\/p>\n A milliliter of saliva<\/a> can contain up to 750 million bacteria, so blowing on your food adds another layer. Parents, by blowing on their child's tortellini, indirectly transmit their germs. Instead, you can rinse the food with clean water, as recommended by Dr. Jimmy Mohamed. However, this technique has its limitations. It's not a good idea to "wash" a slice of toast or a piece of beef bourguignon.<\/p>\n In short, eating food that's fallen on the floor isn't a fatal mistake, but it is a bad habit. And there's no point in calling your dog or cat to clean up your table mishaps. That would be incredibly harsh on their digestive system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When food escapes from the plate and tumbles to the floor, it ends up either in our mouths...","protected":false},"author":8340,"featured_media":432717,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable_msn":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6145],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-432709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition"],"image":{"medium":["https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Manger-aliment-tombe-au-sol-mauvais-200x113.jpg",200,113,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Manger-aliment-tombe-au-sol-mauvais-500x281.jpg",500,281,true]},"custom":{"td_video":"","featured_image":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Manger-aliment-tombe-au-sol-mauvais.jpg","author":{"name":"\u00c9milie Laurent","avatar":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/cropped-2f5d8c00d5d5c27f8ce4d9b3f9015467-96x96.png"},"categories":[{"term_id":6145,"name":"Nutrition","slug":"nutrition","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":6317,"taxonomy":"category","description":" The Nutrition section of The Body Optimist helps you make sense of food without diets or guilt: foods and trends decoded, hunger and fullness, your relationship with food and balanced eating day to day. Our articles are for all women, whatever their body type, with an approach built on the pleasure of eating<\/strong> and listening to yourself rather than on restriction.<\/p>\n Balanced eating means varying what you eat over several days, not following strict rules at every meal. A satisfying meal usually combines vegetables or fruit, a starch (bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, legumes), a source of protein and a little fat. Eating at fairly regular times keeps you from arriving ravenous at the next meal. Sit down to eat, ideally away from screens, and take time to enjoy your food: fullness signals take a while to kick in. No food is off-limits: chocolate, fries and pastries all have a place in a varied diet. For general benchmarks, the health authorities in your country publish official dietary guidelines that don\u2019t require following any diet.<\/p>\n Our editorial team rejects diet culture: no weight-loss diets, no calorie counting, no \u201cforbidden\u201d foods and no promises of physical transformation. We believe health can\u2019t be read on a scale and that every body has its own needs. When we share a study or an expert\u2019s view, it\u2019s to inform your choices, not to tell you what to eat. Our articles provide general information and don\u2019t replace advice from a health professional: for any personal question, talk to your doctor or a registered dietitian.<\/p>\n Intuitive eating is an approach developed by American dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. It encourages you to reject the diet mentality, listen to your hunger and fullness cues and make peace with all foods. Its goal isn\u2019t weight loss but a calmer, more flexible relationship with food.<\/p>\n No food needs to be banned from a varied diet unless you have an allergy, an intolerance or a medical reason to avoid it. Very sugary, very fatty or highly processed foods can be enjoyed without guilt, just less often than everyday staples. Labeling foods as \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cbad\u201d can actually fuel frustration and bingeing.<\/p>\n Several signs should raise a flag: thinking about food constantly, feeling guilty after meals, cycling between restriction and binges, making yourself throw up or avoiding eating in front of others. Eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder, can affect people of any weight. Talk to your doctor, who can refer you to appropriate care, or reach out to an eating disorder support organization in your country.<\/p>\n Keep exploring: put it into practice with our easy, delicious recipes<\/a>, find all our content in the Food<\/a> section and take care of yourself every day with the Well-being<\/a> section.<\/p>","parent":6143,"count":230,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":6145,"category_count":230,"category_description":" The Nutrition section of The Body Optimist helps you make sense of food without diets or guilt: foods and trends decoded, hunger and fullness, your relationship with food and balanced eating day to day. Our articles are for all women, whatever their body type, with an approach built on the pleasure of eating<\/strong> and listening to yourself rather than on restriction.<\/p>\n Balanced eating means varying what you eat over several days, not following strict rules at every meal. A satisfying meal usually combines vegetables or fruit, a starch (bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, legumes), a source of protein and a little fat. Eating at fairly regular times keeps you from arriving ravenous at the next meal. Sit down to eat, ideally away from screens, and take time to enjoy your food: fullness signals take a while to kick in. No food is off-limits: chocolate, fries and pastries all have a place in a varied diet. For general benchmarks, the health authorities in your country publish official dietary guidelines that don\u2019t require following any diet.<\/p>\n Our editorial team rejects diet culture: no weight-loss diets, no calorie counting, no \u201cforbidden\u201d foods and no promises of physical transformation. We believe health can\u2019t be read on a scale and that every body has its own needs. When we share a study or an expert\u2019s view, it\u2019s to inform your choices, not to tell you what to eat. Our articles provide general information and don\u2019t replace advice from a health professional: for any personal question, talk to your doctor or a registered dietitian.<\/p>\n Intuitive eating is an approach developed by American dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. It encourages you to reject the diet mentality, listen to your hunger and fullness cues and make peace with all foods. Its goal isn\u2019t weight loss but a calmer, more flexible relationship with food.<\/p>\n No food needs to be banned from a varied diet unless you have an allergy, an intolerance or a medical reason to avoid it. Very sugary, very fatty or highly processed foods can be enjoyed without guilt, just less often than everyday staples. Labeling foods as \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cbad\u201d can actually fuel frustration and bingeing.<\/p>\n Several signs should raise a flag: thinking about food constantly, feeling guilty after meals, cycling between restriction and binges, making yourself throw up or avoiding eating in front of others. Eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder, can affect people of any weight. Talk to your doctor, who can refer you to appropriate care, or reach out to an eating disorder support organization in your country.<\/p>\n Keep exploring: put it into practice with our easy, delicious recipes<\/a>, find all our content in the Food<\/a> section and take care of yourself every day with the Well-being<\/a> section.<\/p>","cat_name":"Nutrition","category_nicename":"nutrition","category_parent":6143}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8340"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432709"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":435322,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432709\/revisions\/435322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ma-grande-taille.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} The condition of the soil increases the risk of contamination<\/h2>\n
Blowing on the food is a useless reflex.<\/h2>\n
What you\u2019ll find in the Nutrition section<\/h2>\n
\n
How do you eat a balanced diet without depriving yourself?<\/h2>\n
Our approach<\/h2>\n
Our articles to get you started<\/h2>\n
\n
Frequently asked questions<\/h2>\n
What is intuitive eating?<\/h3>\n
Are there foods you should cut out completely?<\/h3>\n
How do you know if you have an eating disorder?<\/h3>\n
What you\u2019ll find in the Nutrition section<\/h2>\n
\n
How do you eat a balanced diet without depriving yourself?<\/h2>\n
Our approach<\/h2>\n
Our articles to get you started<\/h2>\n
\n
Frequently asked questions<\/h2>\n
What is intuitive eating?<\/h3>\n
Are there foods you should cut out completely?<\/h3>\n
How do you know if you have an eating disorder?<\/h3>\n