It's a familiar situation: You've just cooked an amazing dinner, complete with bacon-wrapped scallops (!), when you drop one on the floor. All of a sudden, you're faced with a very important decision: Do you pick it up and eat it, justifying your choice with the five-second rule (i.e., food doesn't pick up germs until it's been on the floor for at least that long)—or do you disregard that rule as an urban myth and throw the scallop away? A new study out of Aston University in England has found that there may actually be a reason to go with the former: Food doesn't actually pick up that much bacteria if it's been on the floor for less than five seconds.

For the study, researchers dropped food on three different types of floors—carpet, a laminated surface, and a tiled surface—and then monitored the transfer of the common bacteria Escherichia coli (also known as E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus onto the food. Overall, the bacteria didn't glom onto the food in a significant way if it was on the floor for less than five seconds—which means the five-second rule is, essentially, legit. But the type of floor played a key role. Bacteria were least likely to stick to food when it was dropped on carpet, whereas they were more likely to transfer onto food dropped on laminated and tiled surfaces.

Obviously, you should try not to drop your food in the first place. And in the interest of playing it safe, you should probably throw out any food that touches the floor, no matter how long it's been there for. But if you want to take this as a green light to officially observe the five-second rule in your household, we won't tell anyone.

More From Women's Health:
Your Purse Is As Germy as a Toilet 
7 Sneaky Ways Bacteria Gets Into Your Beauty Products 
The Dirtiest Thing in Your Purse

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Annie Daly

Annie Daly is a New York City-based freelance writer, editor, and author who specializes in wellness, travel, and culture. She is the author of Destination Wellness (2021), and co-author of Island Wisdom (2022). A former editor at SELF, Cosmopolitan, BuzzFeed Travel, Yahoo Travel, and Good Housekeeping, she has also written for a variety of publications, including Condé Nast Traveler, Vogue, Travel + Leisure, Marie Claire, InStyle, and AFAR, among others. To follow her work, find her on IG @anniemdaly and subscribe to her Substack, Destination Wellness.