Kneading the Dough

Buggy Bread
Engineering students have officially developed a flour that is made out of cockroaches. The flour contains forty percent more protein than normal wheat flour, making it a healthier option than most previous flour options. After a lot of studying and research, the students discovered that by incorporating cockroaches into flour, they were creating an ingredient made up of immense amounts of amino acids, some lipids, and fatty acids, all of which are essential to maintaining a balanced, healthy human diet. By turning cockroaches into flour, they have developed a product that could help balance out many diets.
While some might be repelled by the idea of finding the dumpster-diving insects in their new loaf of bread, rest assured that the cockroaches in question are not the nasty little creatures you find in dark alleys. The species used in flour-making is the Nauphoeta cinerea, an entirely different species than the roaches found in city sewers, drains, and dumpsters. Researchers actually purchase the insects from specialized breeders, where they are hygienically produced and raised on a diet of fruits and vegetables. These roaches meet all hygiene requirements by the health surveillance agency.
According to scientists, “We chose the cockroach because it was the insect that had the highest protein content—almost 70 percent. It contains eight of the nine essential amino acids, it has high-quality fatty acids (such as omega-3 and omega-9) and we can use almost 100 percent of it, with very little residue. Insects are exceptionally effective in converting what they eat in nutritional structures that can be consumed by humans. Since they are rich sources of protein, they can enrich the human diet, especially for people suffering from malnutrition, and their consumption can help reduce the negative environmental impacts of livestock, since it requires less space and generate less pollution, so these factors were enough to convince us to start the research.”
When interviewed, the scientists revealed that “We began to develop our research in 2014 as a final paper project. We graduated [with degrees] in food engineering to continue the project since we obtained excellent results. We also had some sponsorship from a company that develops food technologies using insects as raw material, so we decided to keep up with our researches.”