# The Five Second Rule
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-second-rule/716824
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 4, 2015, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-second-rule/716824 "2015-04-04T20:02:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2015, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-second-rule/716824/1 "2015-04-04T20:02:10Z")
I’ve always thought this was false justification to eat the food anyway, and I am sure I have read quite recently that studies show it is not true. However, I heard on PBS this morning (on a comedy quiz show) that the latest studies show it is true. Is that right?
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### Author:  [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2015, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-second-rule/716824/2 "2015-04-04T20:12:11Z")
I walk the dog to go to the bathroom, he goes where other dogs. I come home I walk on the kitchen floor after walking in dog contaminated grasses and soils. I drop something on the floor and I quickly pick it up and eat it. I would never put it back in the fridge or let it sit around for things to grow on it. I have never heard of anyone getting sick from doing this although I am sure it must happen on a rare occassion. I worry more about giving bad cultures time to grow.
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2015, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-second-rule/716824/3 "2015-04-04T22:36:03Z")
Comedy quiz shows, whether on PBS/NPR, are NOT a good source of information.
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### Author:  [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2015, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-second-rule/716824/4 "2015-04-04T22:43:05Z")
I actually wipe my dog’s paws off when we come in…partly because I think she’s allergic to grass and maybe this helps, partly because we’re a shoes-off-in-the house family and I believe it keeps the floors cleaner. Though she can still go into our small backyard, so… 😃
So, point taken, Honeybadger. But in all seriousness, I don’t think it’s liley to get much contamination off your own floors, assuming you have a normal level of cleanliness. Bacteria aren;t like fleas, they don’t leap right onto the food.
Didn’t Cecil address this, or was it a Staff Report?
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2015, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-second-rule/716824/5 "2015-04-04T22:59:25Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#):
>
> I walk the dog to go to the bathroom, he goes where other dogs. I come home I walk on the kitchen floor after walking in dog contaminated grasses and soils. I drop something on the floor and I quickly pick it up and eat it. I would never put it back in the fridge or let it sit around for things to grow on it. I have never heard of anyone getting sick from doing this although I am sure it must happen on a rare occassion. I worry more about giving bad cultures time to grow.
So you’re saying **HoneyBadgerDC** don’t… give a shit? [sunglasses on] YEAAAH!
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### Author:  [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2015, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-second-rule/716824/6 "2015-04-04T23:49:57Z")
I have always known it as the three second rule. But if it falls on the carpet, beware.
Here in mexico it is called "beso del diablo ", or the devil’s kiss. But we don’t have carpet.
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### Author:  [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2015, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-second-rule/716824/7 "2015-04-04T23:55:59Z")
In the news not terribly long ago:
[http://www.aston.ac.uk/about/news/releases/2014/march/five-second-food-rule-does-exist/](http://www.aston.ac.uk/about/news/releases/2014/march/five-second-food-rule-does-exist/)
[http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/scientists-prove-the-fivesecond-rule-is-no-myth/story-fnjwl2dr-1226856396072](http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/scientists-prove-the-fivesecond-rule-is-no-myth/story-fnjwl2dr-1226856396072)
> **[Study: Five-Second Rule Is (Mostly) Legit](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2014/03/aston-university-five-second-rule-is-mostly-accurate.html)**
>
> A UK study is contradicting the conventional wisdom that the five-second rule is mostly bunk, claiming the amount of time food is on the ground really...
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### Author:  [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2015, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-second-rule/716824/8 "2015-04-05T00:08:11Z")
Well I have a dog and a cat. Usually one or both present when I drop something on the kitchen floor. There is no 5-second rule in my house. If the pet in question deems it edible, it’s gone. If not, it’s probably covered with hair.
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### Author:  [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2015, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-second-rule/716824/9 "2015-04-05T00:16:36Z")
[http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/videos/five-second-rule-minimyth/](http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/videos/five-second-rule-minimyth/)
If you don’t want to watch it - they compared the results of 2-second drop and 6-second drop. No difference.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2015, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-second-rule/716824/10 "2015-04-05T02:25:28Z")
My two cats are free to walk the house, after using the litter box. And my partner’s two dogs carry god-knows-what in from outside. If I drop something on the floor and nobody eats it, it gets tossed.
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### Author:  [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2015, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-five-second-rule/716824/11 "2015-04-05T03:28:19Z")
I think we’ve gone far enough past the answer that I can post my favorite 5-second rule related [comic](http://cdn.themetapicture.com/media/funny-five-second-rule-germs.jpg).