Silkworm poop as cheese whitener?

[rejohnsn at blue.weeg.uiowa.edu]

On Tue, 30 Mar 1999, Doug Yanega wrote:

> The subject says it all. I got an urgent question a few minutes ago as to
> whether it was true that silkworm feces, which is high in chlorophyll, was
> used as a whitening agent during cheese manufacturing. This seems a little
> too weird to be an urban myth, but I'd like to confirm it one way or the
> other.

My understanding of cheese color is that most, if not all, cheese starts
out white, and then acquires color through aging or additives (i.e.,
annatto [sp?] in a lot of mass-produced "cheddars").

Cheers,
Rebecca J.
Ph.D. candidate, Dept. of Anthropology, U Iowa
UE local 896 - COGS

Open your eyes and take in everything that you can see
Look at all the colors -- there's yellow, blue, and green
We can take an airplane and fly across the globe
Look down upon the colors; everyone must go.
                                                    -- Bubbles