Author Archives: delia ma

Imagine yourself going to the kitchen one morning for a nice cup of milk to power you through the day. That milk would have probably came from dairy cows. Now, imagine yourself drinking cockroach milk! Sounds weird doesn’t it. However, study has shown that the Pacific Beetle Cockroach could be the one milking our next superfood of the future.

The Pacific Beetle cockroach,unlike other cockroaches that lay eggs, gives birth to live offspring. It also produces “milk” to feed its offspring. The white liquid substance that its babies are fed with contain highly nutritious protein crystals. Cockroach milk is now considered one of the world’s most nutritious substances, with nutrients four times as much as cow’s milk and three times as much as buffalo’s milk.

Image source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/364017582364139694/

As seen in the video above, a liquid substance containing tiny protein crystal particles are being produced and ejected by the cockroach. One single crystal is said to contain four times the energy compared to regular cow’s milk.

Scientists are hopeful of producing protein shakes out of the protein crystals. However, does this mean that we will be able to just buy cockroach milk protein shakes off the counter? Unfortunately, that will not be the case. While cockroach milk is highly nutritious, it is rather difficult to gather as we are not able to milk the cockroaches like we do with cows. Scientist are trying to resolve this problem by duplicating the genes responsible for producing the protein crystals, meaning, we will be drinking bioengineered cockroach milk.

Being able to produce cockroach milk in large quantities could also help the environment greatly as it means we will have alternatives to cow milk and almond milk. Cows are known for creating greenhouse gases and growing crops such as almond and soy beans require quite a lot of water. We will no longer need as many diary cows, meaning that less methane gas will be produced. Less almonds and soy beans will be needed therefore less water will be used. Cockroach milk does not require any water and does not produce any substances that may harm our environment. That means if cockroach milk is successful , we will not only be benefiting ourselves but our environment as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsRfXi6DfLc

However, in a time where people are supporting all natural foods, would a protein shake labeled “bioengineered” really be that evolutionary? While there are already several superfoods on the market that are made from insects, such as Cricket Protein Powder, none of these have yet been labeled “bioengineered”. The fact that Cockroach milk is the first superfood that is bioengineered will make it revolutionary, however, whether it will be fit for regular consumption is one of the biggest questions right now for consumers. Perhaps in the future, not only would we be drinking cockroach milk, we may also be enjoying other foods made from cockroach milk such as ice cream and yogurt.

Delia Ma