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Fifteen restaurateurs face criminal charges after food inspectors were served dormouse stew and braised dormice in wine and red pepper sauce.

The edible or fat dormouse (Glis glis) was a delicacy in Ancient Rome, when it was fattened on walnuts, and is still much appreciated in parts of Italy. However, it is now a protected species and when food inspectors raided an autumn festival in Calabria they found several rodent casseroles.

In their defence the restaurateurs say that there were actually rats in the stew.

Investigators and DNA experts from the Forestry Corps police, who have been tracking illegal dormice hunters in the Calabrian mountains, took samples from the delicacies on offer at the festival and analysed the meat in their laboratories.

Alessandro Bettosi, the Forestry Corps officer who led the raid, declined to give details of the case for fear of compromising continuing investigations into the illegal hunting network. He said that the accused chefs claimed that their dishes contained rats, which are not protected species, rather than dormice. The defendants hoped to escape with a fine for the lesser offence of contravening public health laws.

Andrea Brutti, of the Italian Society for the Protection of Animals, said that illegal hunting of dormice was rife in Calabria and that 20,000 of them were consumed a year in the Catanzaro area alone. “Demand is now so high that the edible dormouse is becoming an endangered species,” he said. He added that the illegal trade was linked to the ’Ndrangheta, the Calabrian Mafia, and that the woodland habitat of dormice was at risk from forest fires and development.

Connoisseurs of the edible dormouse say that it has a strong smell and is for strong stomachs only.

Mr Brutti said that the hunt was at its height in early autumn, when the dormice take on extra fat to get them through their period of hibernation.

Some people catch dormice at other times of the year and fatten them up at home, a habit that dates to Roman times, when the legions took dormice with them on military expeditions as a food reserve.

Edible dormice are hunted at night. They are either shot, skewered with long metal spikes thrust into tree cavities, or trapped, using chestnuts and walnuts as bait. Their loud squeaking enables hunters to locate them and turn searchlights on them.

They are also found in parts of France, Spain and Greece. They eat seeds, leaves, buds, nuts, berries, acorns, soft fruits and, occasionally, insects and small birds.

In Britain Glis glis, or Myoxus glis, was introduced 100 years ago by Walter Rothschild, later Baron Rothschild, at Tring Park, in Hertfordshire. Some escaped into the countryside but the population is still largely confined to the Beaconsfield, Aylesbury and Luton triangle. In Britain, people are allowed to kill and eat them.

Richard Owen, Rome. The Times Online: www.timesonline.co,uk