Many of us are familiar with the "ten-second rule" (also known as the five or three-second rule) - accidentally dropping food on the floor, quickly swiping it up and deeming it still safe to eat. But new research has revealed that this practice isn't as hygienic as we'd like to believe.

Researchers suggest that up to a third of us risk our health by eating dirty food as bacteria sticks to food almost instantaneously, meaning many of us could be ingesting household bugs such as E. coli and Salmonella.

The research, from cleaning technology firm Kärcher, found that 37 per cent of us would eat food that had been dropped on the kitchen floor, while 38 per cent said they would eat food off their living room floor.