Michelin-starred restaurant indicted for serving dishes garnished with ants

A two-Michelin-star restaurant in Seoul has been indicted for serving dishes garnished with ants, an ingredient not approved for human consumption under Korean food safety law.

The restaurant's owner was charged with violating the Food Sanitation Act by the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office on April 29. 

Investigators found the restaurant had sold ant-topped desserts roughly 12,000 times between April 2021 and January 2025 and generated more than 120 million won ($79,900) in revenue as a result.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety identified that the restaurant was selling dishes through online posts, then referred the case to prosecutors in July last year

Under the Food Sanitation Act, only 10 insect species are approved for use as food ingredients in Korea, including grasshoppers and mealworms. Ants are not on that list.

The owner told investigators they had used ants to add acidity to the dishes and imported two types of dried ant products from the United States and Thailand by international mail.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.

BY KIM EUN-BIN [[email protected]]