Glass of milk anyone?

November 2018

Food and drink trends come and go, from rainbow foods to charcoal buns but this particular food item is the latest and for us, it is also the strangest…Cockroach milk.

Yes, you read that correctly, cockroach milk! We generally don’t associate cockroaches with food however back in 2016, a research team based at the Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine in India stated that the ‘milk’ from the cockroach found on Pacific Islands could be the next ‘super food’.

So why would it be a ‘super food?’ – Well, this particular breed of cockroach gives birth to its young as opposed to laying eggs therefore lactate ‘milk-like’ crystals. These crystals are protein rich containing all essential amino acids (making it a complete protein – #GoodForTheGains), contains lipids and the milk is highly glycosylate (meaning the surfaces of its proteins are coated with sugar).

This non-dairy alternative is said to taste similarly to cow’s milk, but given the size of a roach compared to your average cow – it would require an army of insects to produce just one glass. It is also unclear whether this milk is safe and suitable for human consumption therefore despite its nutritional value, it’s neither feasible, efficient…nor potentially edible?

Despite this, Inverse (Science forum) stated that companies and labs are experimenting with the milk in creating products such as ice-creams and drinking milk. Scientists admit that in previous year getting a panel to sample the product has been challenging - I think you would agree there are no surprise there? Perhaps now it’s 2018 consumers are more daring as this isn’t the first time we’ve seen insects sold as food items.

Marianna Alexandrou, Product Developopment Chef, Marianna.Alexandrou@uwl.ac.uk

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