Prosecutors seek prison sentence for Michelin star restaurant operator for using ants in dishes
The operator and hospitality company running the restaurant are accused of importing dried ants starting in 2021 and serving roughly 49,000 individual ants in four years.
From top: Ants imported from the United States, and ants imported from Thailand
MINISTRY OF FOOD AND DRUG SAFETY
Prosecutors on Monday sought a one-year prison sentence for an operator of a two-Michelin-starred restaurant in Seoul for putting ants — not permitted as food under Korean law — in its dishes.
They also asked the Seoul Western District Court to fine the hospitality group that runs the restaurant 20 million won ($13,500).
Both the operator and the company were charged with violating the Food Sanitation Act.
The operator and the hospitality group are accused of importing dried ants from the United States and Thailand starting in 2021 and using them in its dishes for about four years. Prosecutors put the total number of individual ants served at roughly 49,000.
At the center of the case is the restaurant’s sherbet built on sikhye (a traditional Korean sweet rice beverage), with ants scattered on top. The dessert has been sold more than 12,200 times and has generated about 120 million won, according to prosecutors.
The Korean law approves 10 insect species for human consumption, and ants are not among them.
The defense accepted most of the charges but disputed the arithmetic. Customers who did not want ants in their dish were not served the insects, it argued, so the actual number of individual ants served is lower than what prosecutors calculated.
“About 60 percent of customers agreed to [the ants], but the prosecution calculated the number on the premise that all of them did,” said Seo Min-seok, the lawyer representing the operator.
He also said that the insect appeared on only a small number of dishes within a 15-course tasting menu, and that restaurants in Denmark, Britain and Australia cook with ants.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety found online posts about the sherbet, investigated the matter and referred the case to prosecutors in July of last year.
Health authorities also gave prosecutors a report after finding that heavy metal concentrations in the restaurant’s ants were up to 55 times the levels in approved edible insects.
The court will deliver its verdict on Sept. 2.
BY SHIN HYE-YEON [[email protected]]
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.
