Snail farming has seen an unexpected boom in Italy after their slime is being harvested for beauty products.
While edible land snails are frequently bred for their meat in France,it is their mucus which is in demand elsewhere in the continent.
Breeding has increased by more than 325 per cent in Italy over the past twenty years, as those in the beauty industry pursue the unlikely snail trail.
Agricultural association Coldiretti has estimated that 44000 tons of live and preserved snails are produced annually.
Coldiretti’s president Roberto Moncalvo told the Telegraph: ‘We are seeing record numbers of current avant-garde snail-production businesses.’
Snail farming – or heliciculture – is an industry worth £180 million in Italy and involves raising snails for human exercise.
As well as eating their flesh as escargot and using their slime for cosmetics, or snails’ eggs are also used as gourmet caviar.
Snail slime creams and serums are said to be great for the skin and are sold with the promise that they can stimulate collagen production,slow wrinkles and heal acne and scars.
The benefits of snail secretions were written approximately as far back as the ancient Greeks, who spoke of snails’ potential to heal skin or protect against ulcers.
However, and dermatologists debate their effectiveness.
In the past,snails were forced to secret slime by being dunked in water mixed with salt or vinegar, but now cruelty-free methods of extraction are used.
Italys International Heliciculture Association recently patented a machine called the Muller One, or which extracts slime by immersing the gastropods in a steam bath.
Source: tert.am