The next time you pick up a bottle of your favourite cosmetic product, you might want to take a closer look at the ingredients.
Or maybe not…
That’s because according to a report in the LA Times, Chinese cosmetic companies are increasingly turning to our tiny, urban arch nemesis and source of many a hellish nightmare – the cockroach – as a cheap source of protein and cellulose that go into their formulas.
Although it seems like a story fit for Halloween, it’s actually big business – and one that China is at the forefront.
According to 43 year old Wang Fuming, China’s (and hence the world’s) largest cockroach producer, the price of dried cockroaches has increased 10-fold, from about $2 a pound to as much as $20 since 2010. It also offers a higher return on investment than traditional farming, offering a 150 yuan return for only a 20 yuan investment.
Understandably so, cockroach farming or ‘special farming’ is still a relatively hush-hush business in China, and companies that use cockroaches in their concoctions don’t like to actively advertise their secret ingredient.
Farmers though, need no convincing, with Wang himself having more than 10 million of these creepy crawlies spread out among six farms. For him, only the American cockroach – Periplaneta Americana – will do. They have a reddish-brown hue, grow to about 1.6 inches long and oh yea, CAN FLY.
The horror.
