A BIZARRE burger partially comprised of midges will go under the microscope of environmental health officers to determine its fitness for human consumption.

David Keat, the Argyll and Bute hotelier who with his chef has been championing the burger has come under fire for the 'vegan burgers' which use the blood-sucking insects in place of breadcrumbs. He initiall claimed that it had proved popular with guests after being put on the menu.

But after coming under fire for the concept at the Brander Lodge Hotel at Taynuilt, he has admitted that the insect creation was originally a "Facebook joke" and did not exist - until the concept attracted enormous attention through social media.

The Herald:

As a result of the interest, midge burgers were created and samples are now being tested by local environmental health department to ensure they are free from any contamination so that they can be served up.

Mr Keat's 'creation' attracted interest earlier this week after he jokingly announced that the burger described as a "delicacy" had been added to the menu at his Crunachy Bistro and posted photographs of their creation on social media.

Scots hotel adds midge burgers 'delicacy' to the menu as 'a bit of fun'

He said they had taken the term "sourcing ingredients locally" to a new extreme by "adding north-western Scotland's annual blight of midges to its menu".

The Brander Awe Mighty Midge Fodder Burger incorporates sweet potato, local nettles, wild garlic and traditional herbs such as parsley and rosemary with "protein-filled midges... the carnivore optional extra".

But now Mr Keat admits the interest has prompted him to explore the idea to add midges to burgers that could be sold to the public officially.

The Herald:

He has confirmed that if it gets the okay from environmental health officers they would serve it to customers who request it, but doubted whether it would be placed on the menu. And he admitted he is not expecting guests to choose it.

"The whole thing about this was it was just a joke," he said. "There was never going to be a midge burger. The joke was we were never going to cook a burger with midges on it.

"It was going to be a vegan burger made out of the fodder from the garden that male midges would eat, rather than the actual midges themselves.

"But it has grown arms and legs through the publicity and we have spoken now to so many people and one said to me why don't you give them the option of having a midge burger if they want it. And I said that you cannot serve things like that without getting it tested.

The Herald:

"We phoned the environmental health officer up and he made inquiries and said they had no objection but anything for human consumption would have to be completely tested. And I said just out of interest we would send it away to the testing laboratory.

"It is an exercise we are going through on the midge burger, so that if someone was mad enough to ask for a midge burger we would quite legally sell it.

"People eat crickets. They eat ants. They eat untold insects throughout the world. So we are interested in what happens with the tests."

While some may put the midge burger alongside bizarre Scottish food creations like the deep fried Mars bar, Mr Keat had revealed that he is a New Zealander by birth.

The midge burger concept attracted widespread attention when Mr Keat announced earlier this wee: "Every summer we're absolutely over-run with the little beggars.

"We've installed several midge machines here on site and every few days we have to empty them, which got me thinking.

The Herald:

"All sorts of other insects and bugs are crawling onto menus all over the world, so there's no reason why the humble midge should be excluded. If you can't beat 'em, eat 'em."

When making the midge burger announcement last Sunday Mr Keat claimed some of his guests were "a bit anxious about trying the delicacy".

But he declared: "Soon enough they were raving, and now we simply can't supply demand which has outstripped the capacity of our commercial sized midge whackers.

"We've had to ask neighbours to put more machines on their properties as well, but we still can't keep up," he said on a Facebook update.

One Facebook user questioned the announcement saying: "Is this for real? Surely not. Don't these things go around sucking blood out of people and animals?"

The hotel responded saying: "It's just a bit of fun."

Environmental health manager Iain MacKinnon said: "In principle we have no objection, but it would need to be thoroughly tested and checked before it was served up to humans."