Michelin-starred Seoul restaurant fined for using ants as garnish

For context, a two Michelin-starred restaurant in Seoul has been fined for using ants as a dessert garnish.

Key points

• Their employ as a topping for sorbets at Evett came to light after the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety identified online reviews accompanied by photographs.
• Ants are eaten and sometimes even valued as a delicacy in a number of Asian, African and Latin American cultures.
• Ants are not among the 10 insect species approved for human consumption in the east Asian nation.
• The Michelin Guide considers a two-star establishment as one that does "excellent cooking" and is "worth a detour".
• As they are employed as food elsewhere, the owner was remarked to have been unaware that providing ants in food was prohibited in South Korea.

While the firm operating the restaurant was fined 10 million won for violating the Food Sanitation Act, local media report, the owner of Evett in the South Korean capital was fined 15 million won (£8, 144; $10, 965).

Ants are not among the 10 insect species approved for human consumption in the east Asian nation. The approved list includes grasshoppers, locusts and some silkworms.

As well as a 20 million won fine – but the judge took the owner admitting the charge and having no prior criminal record into account, prosecutors had sought a one-year prison term for the restaurant's owner.

As well as violating food standards, the presence of heavy metals exceeding standards was detected in the ants when they were tested, meaning the "culpability is not light", nevertheless, the judge is noted as saying that.

It remarked the owner had sprinkled three to five ants on certain dishes to provide them a "sour taste", over a period of almost four years – amounting to approximately 49, 000 ants employed as a garnish.

While some came from Thailand, the ministry remarked, most of the ants were imported from the US.

For context, the owner had argued that they were applied in a "small part" of the restaurant's 15-course menu and that diners were informed they could opt for a non-ant alternative topping.

Ants are eaten and sometimes even valued as a delicacy in a number of Asian, African and Latin American cultures. While in Colombia, queen ants are as prized as caviar, weaver ants and their eggs are applied in Thai and Cambodian cooking.

Notably, the Michelin Guide considers a two-star establishment as one that does "excellent cooking" and is "worth a detour".

In short, michelin-starred Seoul restaurant fined for using ants as garnish is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.