PIG famers David Campbell and Gillian Mackay claim to have discovered the secret of producing the world’s tastiest pork chop – but when the pair told their customers, they thought they’d gone bananas.

The couple, who supply some of Scotland’s finest restaurants with pork and bacon from their rare breed, free-range herd, were struggling to come up with a healthy and nutritious diet for their porkers when they hit on the idea of the yellow tropical fruit.

Now they have the Glasgow Fruitmarket on speed dial just to keep-up with the voracious appetite of the animals who go through more than 50 tonnes of bananas every year – skin and all.

While the pigs enjoy other fruits – including avocados and pineapple – bananas are their favourite, according to David.

“They can’t get enough of them, we’re having to buy a tonne of bananas every week just to keep up with the demand,” says the former architect who started the business 12 years ago with a pair of Oxford Sandy and Black piglets he’d bought as a surprise birthday present for partner Gillian.

“Pigs will eat a variety of fruits and nuts and they are also rooters, which means they will eat things they find on the surface of the ground.

“We have to control their diet strictly to be sure that the quality of meat we supply to our customers is of the highest standard and bananas keeps them healthy and well fed.

“I’ve heard people say that pigs take on the flavour of what they eat but that’s not the case here. Our meat doesn’t taste of bananas, but the pigs’ diet has improved its flavour.

“We also rear our pigs at a slower, more natural rate which is twice as long as supermarket pork which means that both the fat and the flesh have a much better taste.”

The couple, who run Ardunan Farm in Strathblane, Stirlingshire, supply pork and bacon as well as free-range chickens, duck eggs and hens’ eggs direct to the public and to some of the city’s top restaurants including Monadh Kitchen in Bearsden, Eusebi’s Deli and The Gannet, in Finnieston.

Peter McKenna, co-owner of The Gannet, said all its fresh ingredients are supplied by independent, Scottish producers each of whom has their own quirks that make what they supply special.

“Pork is one of the most popular dishes on our menu, in large part because of the quality of the meat supplied by David and Gillian at Ardunan.

“We happened to ask how they managed to produce meat with such a distinctive flavour and they let slip their secret.

“Somehow you just wouldn’t expect pigs to eat bananas but there’s no reason why they shouldn’t, and it has become an interesting point of discussion with our customers.”

Peter added: “Pork and bananas is not a natural marriage, so we won’t be creating any dishes as a tribute to the unusual diet of the Ardunan pigs. There’s a place for experimental cuisine but we’re all agreed that would take things too far. ”