Seoul Restaurant Fined for Serving Unauthorized Ant Garnish

A Seoul court has fined the owner of a Michelin two-star restaurant and its operating company for serving a dessert garnished with ants that are not authorized as food ingredients in South Korea.

The Seoul Western District Court imposed a fine of 15 million won, or about $10,900, on the restaurant owner, identified by the surname Kim. The company that operates the restaurant was separately fined 10 million won.

Kim was charged with importing dried ants from the United States and Thailand and using them as a garnish on a sherbet dessert between April 2021 and January 2026. South Korean food safety rules permit 10 insect species for use as food ingredients, but ants are not included on that list.

Authorities determined that the restaurant served approximately 49,000 ants to 12,274 customers over the four-year period. The dessert generated an estimated 120 million won in revenue, according to the findings presented in the case.

Prosecutors had sought a one-year prison sentence at a July 20 hearing, arguing that the conduct violated the Food Sanitation Act. The court said the offense could not be treated as minor because the restaurant had promoted the dessert and tests found that the ants contained heavy metals above the legal threshold.

The court nevertheless chose financial penalties rather than imprisonment. In reaching its decision, it considered Kim's admission of wrongdoing, the absence of a previous criminal record and the possibility that the owner did not know the ingredient was prohibited in South Korea. Ants are used in cuisine in some other countries, a circumstance the court also weighed.

The case has drawn wider attention to food-safety compliance at prominent restaurants. Seventeen restaurants in South Korea listed by the Michelin Guide were cited for food-safety violations a total of 21 times between 2023 and 2025.

Following the ant-dessert case, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety conducted a special inspection of 1,720 popular restaurants in June. Authorities found violations at 45 establishments, and administrative action against them is now in progress.

The ruling underscores that high-profile restaurants remain subject to the same ingredient-approval and safety standards as other food businesses. Imported or unconventional ingredients must meet domestic authorization requirements before they can be served, regardless of whether they are used in dishes elsewhere.