ACCORDING to science the five-second rule is no myth. Offering relief to all those who have been picking their food off the floor and helping them feel a little bit less gross.

Some live by the belief that when you drop a bit of food on the floor you get five-seconds before it’s rendered too disgusting to eat. Six-seconds? No way. But for some reason five has generally been accepted.

Of course, we all thought this was a load of rubbish and only used it to convince ourselves we can still consume that meatball that’s just rolled onto the carpet. But science has proven we’ve been getting it right all along.

Biology students at Aston University in the UK monitored how quickly E.coli and common bacteria spread from surfaces to food such as toast (butter side down, no doubt), pasta and sticky sweets — with time being a significant factor in the transfer of germs.

Food picked up just a few seconds after being dropped is less likely to contain bacteria than if it is left for longer periods of time according to the findings.

The type of flooring the food has been dropped on has an effect, with bacteria least likely to transfer from carpeted surfaces and most likely to transfer from laminate or tiled surfaces to moist foods making contact for more than five-seconds.

“We have found evidence that transfer from indoor flooring surfaces is incredibly poor with carpet actually posing the lowest risk of bacterial transfer onto dropped food,” said Professor Anthony Hilton who headed the study.

But don’t get too cocky next time you reach for a spilt bit of grub. Professor Hilton goes on to clarify:

“Consuming food dropped on the floor still carries an infection risk as it very much depends on which bacteria are present on the floor at the time; however the findings of this study will bring some light relief to those who have been employing the five-second rule for years, despite a general consensus that it is purely a myth.”