Chicken Milk? No, Really, Chicken Milk?

I'm thinking of having my jaw permanently dropped, just to save time.

What other response is there to the news these days? Just watching an episode of The Soup is enough to send a jaw dropping so fast and often that it can generate enough electricity to power a chicken juicer.

That is how they make chicken milk, isn't it?

Chicken milk? Do I want to even think about the concept of chicken milk, let alone try to explain it?

No. I don't. My mind doesn't want to venture anywhere near the subject.

So I'll just quote the article and then go off and scrub my brain with a power sander.

There was a time when people were only familiar with cow's milk, goat's milk, soya bean milk or buffalo's milk. So it makes quite a lot of sense when a new innovation - chicken-based milk - spurs a number of questions on this yellowish liquid substance. ...

"Chicken milk is, in fact, milk made from chicken meat," said Dr Pipop Jirapinyo, paediatrician specialising in nutrition. "It contains vitamins, minerals, as well as other nutrients necessary for the growth and development of infants. It is also a healthy choice instead of baby formula."

Dr Pipop is Thailand's first scientist who came up with the innovative idea of producing milk from chicken meat. After spending more than 10 years researching and developing the formula, his aim, he said, is to provide an affordable alternative to parents whose children are allergic to the protein in cow's milk. ...

Even though there are, apart from cow's milk, several other kinds of milk for parents to choose from, such as goat's milk, soya bean milk and hypoallergenic formulas based on partially or extensively hydrolysed protein, there are still more than 2,000 infants [born in Thailand] annually who are allergic to these kinds of milk. ...

Admittedly, chicken-based milk does not sound like a favourite, but Dr Pipop said that his new formula does not taste awful. The yellowish thick liquid looks quite similar to vanilla-flavoured milk. The chicken-based milk is a protein-rich option providing high energy and nutritional levels as milk from other sources.

So, why chicken?

"Infants are rarely allergic to chicken meat. It possesses a mysteriously unique quality. We commonly find that people are allergic to shrimp, eggs, nuts or milk, but very few people are allergic to chicken," explained the paediatrician.

Chicken's breast strips are best suited for manufacturing the milk as it contains 80 to 90 per cent of protein with very little fat. "Using chicken's breast strips to produce milk can make it easier to stabilise its high quality as we do not need to worry about fat and carbohydrates," he added.

To make milk from chicken meat, Dr Pipop said that the first step is to have the breast strips boiled and ground until smooth. Then essential nutrients for babies' growth is added to the mixture, which is frozen to -72C. After a decade of trial and error, the doctor finally came up with an effective technique to mix all components homogeneously, containing complete and standardised levels of vitamins and minerals. The milk is so smooth that it can easily be sucked through a rubber nipple.