A local restaurant owner faces serious legal trouble after secretly sprinkling ants into customer meals for nearly four years. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety caught the sneaky chef adding dried ants from America and Thailand to dishes at his eatery. Officials discovered he imported the creepy crawlers through express mail services between April 2021 and November 2024. The restaurant served roughly 12,000 plates with three to five ants sprinkled on each dish until January. Prosecutors will decide whether to file charges against the ant-loving chef for breaking food safety laws.
Korean law strictly controls which bugs people can legally eat at restaurants and ants did not make the approved list. The country allows only ten types of insects as food ingredients including grasshoppers, mealworms and silkworm pupae. Street vendors commonly sell silkworm pupae as the popular snack called beondaegi across the nation. Restaurant owners must get special permission from the Food and Drug Safety Ministry before serving any insect dishes. The ant-serving chef never asked for approval and broke multiple food safety rules.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety transferred the case to prosecutors after completing their investigation. Officials stressed that restaurants cannot use materials that Korean law does not recognize as proper food ingredients. The chef claimed ants added unique flavor to his dishes but safety regulations trump culinary creativity. Ant recipes exist in other countries but remain illegal in Korean restaurants without government approval.
Korean law strictly controls which bugs people can legally eat at restaurants and ants did not make the approved list. The country allows only ten types of insects as food ingredients including grasshoppers, mealworms and silkworm pupae. Street vendors commonly sell silkworm pupae as the popular snack called beondaegi across the nation. Restaurant owners must get special permission from the Food and Drug Safety Ministry before serving any insect dishes. The ant-serving chef never asked for approval and broke multiple food safety rules.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety transferred the case to prosecutors after completing their investigation. Officials stressed that restaurants cannot use materials that Korean law does not recognize as proper food ingredients. The chef claimed ants added unique flavor to his dishes but safety regulations trump culinary creativity. Ant recipes exist in other countries but remain illegal in Korean restaurants without government approval.
