Introduction: In accordance with the widely known "five second rule", an experimental study was conducted which tested the veracity and scientific rigour of this popular saying. Here, citizens are warned since childhood about how unhygienic it is to ingest food that has fallen on the floor, but it is also implied that this food remains safe if it is picked up from the floor in a determined period of time. In this case, less than or equal to five seconds. The present work attempts to simulate the action of dropping and collecting foods from the ground, remaining in contact with different floor surfaces for different time intervals, in order to carry out a microbiological study of the simulation. Methods: To achieve this purpose, samples have been taken in solid culture medium (Nutrie nt Agar) from the soil of the microbiology laboratory and the general corridor (public floor) and 1 and 4 seconds after the contact of the medium with the soil. These cultures have been incubated for 48 hours in an culture stove at 27 ºC. Subsequently, the total count of the Colony Forming Units as well as a study of the sample variability has been carried out. Results: The results obtained prove that there is a greater microbiological load in those samples that were exposed for a longer time to the surface and in the ones that entered in contact with the public floor. Additionally, in the first second we already observe a degree of contamination and we can perceive morphologically different colonies between both floors. Conclusion: Therefore, we can affirm that the "five second rule" is not true. We deduce this because there is an immediate contamination when the surfaces come in contact, both in the public microecosystem and in the clean one, in spite of finding different morphologies in the samples.
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