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'Five Second Rule' Is Legit And A Scientist Has Confirmed It

'Five Second Rule' Is Legit And A Scientist Has Confirmed It

I KNEW IT.

Mel Ramsay

Mel Ramsay

The five second rule is something many of us live by. Especially when we're students. If a sausage drops on the floor and no-one's around to see it, does it really matter if you dust it off and stick it in your gob?

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For most of us, we may have felt that we've been playing fast and loose with the possibility of contracting some kind of awful disease from this urban myth. But it turns out that we were bang on the money the whole time. Hell yeah.

Germ expert Professor Anthony Hilton, who works at Aston University, has sensationally confirmed that although eating food that has dropped on the floor can never be completely without risk, it's generally fine as long as it's only there momentarily.

On Wednesday at the NEC in Birmingham, Professor Hilton will be demonstrating how it works when he features at The Big Bang Fair which, according to HuffPost, is a celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) aimed at young people.

He said: "Eating food that has spent a few moments on the floor can never be entirely risk-free.

"Obviously, food covered in visible dirt shouldn't be eaten, but as long as it's not obviously contaminated, the science shows that food is unlikely to have picked up harmful bacteria from a few seconds spent on an indoor floor.

"That is not to say that germs can't transfer from the floor to the food.

"Our research has shown that the nature of the floor surface, the type of food dropped on the floor and the length of time it spends on the floor can all have an impact on the number that can transfer."

Unbelievably, a study of 2,000 people found that 21 percent had never eaten food that had fallen on the floor. You may be thinking the same as me... liars, right?

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Well I decided to conduct a miniature study of my own and took to polling you lot.

I hate to admit it, but my poll showed 22 percent of you had never eaten food off the floor. So it seems the survey is legit.

Jake Minihan said: "When you're a poor uni student surely it's the 24-hour rule?" Gross. While Michael Appleton chirped in with: "My dad ate scouse [a type of stew] out the bin once." Well Michael, your dad and I have that in common.

However, Antonia Cavanagh was one of those who hasn't taken part in the five second rule. She said: "I won't and neither will my son and he's eight! The thought would mortify him." While Riviera Williams added: "I can't bring myself to do it. I know too many species of shitty bacteria to risk it. Literally yesterday I bought a pizza and took my bag off to eat it; somehow it clipped the plate and the whole thing fell on the floor.

"I don't know what kind of atrocities I must have committed in my past life to deserve such bad luck." Yeah, that sucks. I definitely would've dusted it off though.

So there you have it. It's safe if it's only momentarily. Go nuts.

Featured Image Credit: CBS