Almost everyone has dropped some food on the floor and still wanted to eat it.If someone saw you drop it, he or she might have shouted, " 5-second rule!" This so-called rule says food is OK to eat if you pick it up in five seconds or less.But is that true? Professor Anthony Hilton from Ashton University, UK, tested the rule with his students.They found that food dropped for five seconds is less likely to contain bacteria  than if it sits there for longer. For the study, Hilton and his students tested a lot of foods----bread, pasta, cookies and candy--to see how much bacteria they had when they made contact with the floor.They allowed the food to lie on the different types of flooring--carpet , laminate   and tile  -- for three seconds to 30 seconds. Not surprisingly, the longer the food was on the floor, the more bacteria it had.And the type of floor where the dropped food landed had an effect.Bacteria are least likely to transfer  from carpet, while they are most likely to transfer laminate or tiled surface after more than five seconds. The study also found that the wetter the food, the more likely it was to pick up bacteria.Although most people are happy to follow the 5-second rule, eating food dropped on the floor still carries an infection  risk."It very much depends on which bacteria are on the floor at the time." Hilton told Forbes. According to the article, the infection risk of the dropped does NOT depend on   _  .
how long the food sits on the floor what the dropped food is what the bacteria are what the weather is like that day