Cockroaches filmed on board flight

Cockroaches were filmed running around an open bottle of tomato juice. Photo / Facebook

We've all heard of the movie Snakes on a Plane - but how about bugs on a plane?

Skin-crawling footage posted on Facebook shows at least half a dozen insects scurrying around in the food preparation area of a passenger plane.

Houda Bekkali, the passenger who filmed the insects, claimed the footage was taken on a Royal Air Maroc flight from Casablanca to Montreal in December.

In the video, insects are seen crawling around tubs of yoghurt and an open bottle of tomato juice.

A translation of the text accompanying her Facebook post read: "Eat before you take a plane with the Royal Air Maroc... as you will risk hungry or end up in hospital".

The footage was uploaded on Saturday.

The Mirror reported that the airline had responded and said the incident would be taken "very seriously" and it would "initiate an investigation".

"We do not know when this video was taken or inside which aircraft," a spokesman said.

"We need to go back through the entire supply chain from our providers to understand [what happened]."

He said the airline had never received complaints about cockroaches before.

British Airways fumigated two planes in 2011 after an infestation of bed bugs on a Los Angeles to London flight.

New Zealand is one of 16 countries requiring "disinsection" on all inbound flights, sometimes using aerosol sprays.

- nzherald.co.nz