Escaped One Million Cockroaches Still at Large in China, Major Clean-up Underway [VIDEOS]

(Source: Youtube/National Geographic)

About one million cockroaches escaped from a farm in China after the facility was ransacked. The cockroaches were kept to be used in making traditional Chinese medicine. The insects were found to be infesting the nearby cornfields in Dafeng, China and were yet to be contained.

According to reports, the greenhouse where the one million cockroaches were being bred was damaged by an unknown individual. One of the rumoured suspects for trespassing and vandalism was one of the neighbours who was not pleased of the idea of living near millions of cockroaches.

The farm owner, Wang Pengsheng, said he has invested $16,000 in 102 kilogrammes of cockroach eggs or Peroplaneta Americana eggs. Before purchasing the eggs, he has spent six months to develop his business plan.

When he discovered his damaged greenhouse for cockroaches, over 1.5 million of the crawling insects had hatched from their eggs.

Mr Wang might have yearned for a lucrative business venture, but he may now be looking at thousands of dollars in losses.

The Jiangsu Board of Health has sent five investigators on-site to develop a plan to get rid of the escaped cockroaches. The department will support a large-scale disinfection of the area as soon as possible.

While most people will agree that cockroaches are probably the most disgusting creatures on Earth, practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine have always believed in their healing properties. Cockroaches were said to improve one's immunity to sickness, including the ability to treat cancer and reduce inflammation. Wingless cockroaches are also believed to treat various types of blood stasis like amenorrhea.

Cockroaches bad for business

While a million cockroaches from the farm that are currently on the loose in China sounds extremely repulsive, finding one cockroach in a baked pizza can also be terrifying. A 6-year-old boy found a cockroach stuck in his pizza crust at Munchies, a British fast food chain.

(Source: Youtube/Channel0005)

The family of the boy reported the incident to the health inspector who paid a visit to the restaurant. He was surprised to find not one, not two but several cockroaches scurrying around cooking pans and crawling up the kitchen walls.

Apparently, the restaurant was a health inspector's nightmare since there were also several years' worth of grease and dirt in the area where food was supposed to be prepared, including moldy kebab meat left on the floor.

The Munchies branch owner was ordered to pay a fine as authorities shut down the restaurant for health and sanitation issues.