Gangwon Province’s Insect Smart Factory Farm Becomes First in Korea to Receive Edible Insect Safety Management Certification

Meeting 42 Criteria from Breeding to Shipping
Real-Time Management of All Yellow Mealworm Production Stages Using AI and RFID

The Insect Industry Hub Smart Factory Farm established by Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province (Governor Woo Sangho) has become the first among all metropolitan governments and insect industry hub complexes nationwide to acquire "Safety Management Certification for Edible Insect Production."

Smart Factory Farm panorama. Provided by Gangwon Province

On September 4, Gangwon Province announced that the Insect Smart Factory Farm, built in the Insect Industry Hub Complex at Dongsan-myeon, Chuncheon-si, had received the safety management certification for edible insect production from the Korea Food Safety Management Certification Institute.

The safety management certification for edible insect production is a system that extends the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) management framework, previously applied only to food manufacturing and processing, to the breeding and production stages of insects as well. This was part of a pilot project jointly initiated by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Korea Food Safety Management Certification Institute on June 29.

The certification currently covers two species: larvae of the yellow mealworm beetle and larvae of Protaetia brevitarsis. A total of 42 inspection items—including breeding facilities and hygiene, feed and water sources, husbandry, disease controls, and shipping management—are evaluated to systematically assess risk factors such as residual pesticides, heavy metals, and microbial contamination.

Gangwon Province invested a total project cost of 20 billion won to establish the insect industry hub complex. At the smart factory farm within the complex, yellow mealworms (Tenebrio molitor) are bred and produced. The facility is equipped with RFID-based breeding boxes, an artificial intelligence (AI) growth analysis system, and a color sorter, enabling real-time integrated management of breeding history, growth status, and mortality occurrence.

This certification is expected to further strengthen the safety of the division-of-labor production system connecting local farms with the hub complex. The hub supplies high-quality insect seed stock to farms, which then multiply the stock; the hub then purchases all of the multiplied supply to handle standardized mass production and preprocessing. Raw materials provided by farms can now also be managed and verified consistently according to the hub’s certification standards.

Gangwon Province plans to enhance the safety of edible insects and consumer trust through regular inspections and improvements to the management system. Additionally, the breeding and production standards and operational know-how accumulated during the certification process will be shared with local farms in the province.

Jeon Jaeseop, Director-General of Agriculture for Gangwon Province, commented, "For edible insects to be established as a future food resource, the safety of the raw materials and consumer trust are of utmost importance. Now that the public sector has modelled a standard approach, we will actively support the expansion of certification among insect breeders in the province."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.