Editing Five-second rule (section)

{{short description|Western cultural food hygiene myth}}
{{for|the basketball rule|Five-second rule (basketball)}}
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[[File:Spilled_strawberries.jpg|thumb|[[Strawberries]] dropped on the ground. The ''five-second rule'' suggests that if they are picked up within five seconds, it is safe to eat them without rewashing.]]
The '''five-second rule''', or sometimes the '''three-second rule''', is a [[food hygiene]] [[urban legend]] that states a defined time window after which it is not safe to eat food (or sometimes to use [[cutlery]]) after it has been dropped on the floor or on the ground and thus exposed to contamination.

While the amount of microbes transferred to a dropped food does increase over time, and in some situations floors may be relatively clean of pathogens, the scientific consensus is opposed to such a general applied rule,<ref>{{cite web |author=Skanulis |first=Leanna |date=2007 |title='5-Second Rule' Rules, Sometimes |url=http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/features/5-second-rule-rules-sometimes-#1 |access-date=July 10, 2024 |publisher=[[WebMD]]}}</ref> and the origin of the idea is unclear. It is speculated to have originated from legends about [[Genghis Khan]]. It was first mentioned in print in 1995.