The poppy seed preparation causes a morphine overdose, drawing the attention of lawmakers

It sounds like a joke: Opioid-infused poppy seeds.

It was actually a plot of the popular 1990s sitcom “Seinfeld.” But for some it has been a tragedy.

People have died after drinking tea made from unwashed poppy seeds.

And after eating lemon poppy seed bread or an all-you-can-eat bagel, mothers have reportedly been separated from babies because the women failed drug tests.

Poppy seeds come from the plant that produces opium and from which narcotics such as morphine and codeine are derived. During harvesting and processing, the seeds may be coated with the opium liquid.

Members of the House and Senate have proposed legislation “to ban the distribution and sale of tainted poppy seeds in order to prevent harm, addiction and more deaths from morphine-tainted poppy seeds.” The bill was one of several on the agenda for a Sept. 10 House hearing.

The day before the hearing, The Marshall Project and Reveal reported on a woman who ate a poppy seed salad before giving birth, tested positive at the hospital for opiates, was reported to the child welfare services and saw her baby in protective custody. It was nearly two weeks before she was allowed to bring her baby home, according to the story.

“It’s not an urban legend: Eating poppy seeds can cause diners to test positive for codeine in a urinalysis,” the Department of Defense warned military personnel in 2023.

The US Anti-Doping Agency issued a similar warning to athletes some time ago.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a watchdog group, asked the FDA in 2021 to limit the opiate content of poppy seeds. In May, after more than three years without a response, he sued the agency to force action.

“So far the FDA has been remiss in protecting consumers,” said Steve Hacala, whose son died after consuming poppy seed tea and who has joined forces with CSPI.

The lawsuit was suspended in July, after the FDA said it would respond to the group’s petition by the end of February 2025.

The FDA did not respond to questions for this article. The agency generally does not comment on litigation, spokeswoman Courtney Rhodes said.

A 2021 study co-authored by CSPI staff found more than 100 reports to poison control centers between 2000 and 2018 resulting from the intentional abuse or misuse of poppy seeds, said CSPI Scientist Eva Greenthal, one of the authors of the study.

Only rarely do baked goods or other foods containing washed poppy seeds trigger positive drug tests, said doctors who have studied the problem.

It’s “exquisitely doubtful” that the “relatively trivial” amount of morphine in a whole bagel or similar would harm anyone, said Irving Haber, a doctor who has written about poppy seeds, specializes in pain medicine and signed the CSPI request by the FDA.

On the other hand, tea made from large amounts of unwashed poppy seeds could lead to addiction and overdose, doctors said. The risks increase if the beer drinker also uses other opioids, such as prescription pain relievers.

Benjamin Lai, a physician who chairs an opioid program at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., said he has been treating a patient who developed long-term opioid addiction from consuming poppy seed tea. The patient, a man in his 30s, found it at a health food store and was under the impression it would help him relax and recover from gym workouts. After a few months, he tried to stop and experienced withdrawal symptoms, Lai said.

Another patient, an elderly woman, developed withdrawal symptoms under similar circumstances but responded well to treatment, Lai said.

Some websites claim that poppy tea offers health benefits. And some sellers “may use specific language such as ‘raw,’ ‘unprocessed,’ or ‘unwashed’ to indicate that their products contain higher concentrations of opiates than properly processed seeds,” CSPI’s lawsuit said .

Steve Hacala’s son, Stephen Hacala, a music teacher, had suffered from anxiety and insomnia, for which poppy seed tea is touted as a natural remedy, according to the lawsuit. In 2016, at the age of 24, he ordered a bag of poppy seeds online, rinsed them with water and consumed the wash. He died of morphine poisoning.

The only source of morphine found in Stephen’s home, where he died, was commercially available poppy seeds, a medical examiner from the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory said in a letter to father The medical examiner wrote that poppy seeds “very likely” caused Stephen’s death.

Steve Hacala estimated that the amount of poppy seeds found in a 1-liter plastic water bottle at his son’s home could have delivered more than 10 times a lethal dose.

Steve Hacala and his wife, Betty, have funded CSPI’s efforts to bring attention to the problem. (KFF Health News editor David Rousseau serves on CSPI’s board.)

The lawsuit also cited mothers who, like those in The Marshall Project and Reveal’s research, broke rules meant to protect newborns. For example, even though Jamie Silakowski had not used opioids while pregnant, she was initially prevented from leaving the hospital with her baby, according to the lawsuit.

Silakowski recalled eating poppy seed bread with lemon at Tim Hortons, a fast-food chain, before going to the hospital, CSPI said in its petition. “No one at the hospital believed Mrs. Silakowski or seemed to know that the test results could come from poppy seeds.”

People from child protective services made unannounced visits to her home, interviewed her other children and asked teachers at her school, she said in an interview.

While on maternity leave, she had to submit to drug tests, Silakowski said. “To pee in front of someone like a criminal, it was mortifying.”

Even family members were questioning him and there was nothing he could do to dispel doubts, he said. “Relationships broke down,” he said.

Tim Hortons’ parent company, Restaurant Brands International, which also owns Burger King and Popeyes, did not respond to questions from KFF Health News.

In July, The Washington Post reported that Trader Joe’s Everything but the Bagel seasoning was banned and confiscated in South Korea because it contains poppy seeds. Trader Joe’s did not respond to inquiries for this article. The seasoning is for sale on the company’s website.

The US Drug Enforcement Agency says unwashed poppy seeds can kill when used alone or in combination with other drugs. While poppy seeds are exempt from drug control under the Controlled Substances Act, opium contaminants in the seeds are not, the agency says. The Department of Justice has filed criminal charges for the sale of unwashed poppy seeds.

Meanwhile, legislation to control poppy seed pollution has not gained much traction.

The Senate bill, introduced by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), has two co-sponsors.

The House bill, introduced by Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.), has none. Although it was on the agenda, it was not raised at the recent hearing.

This article was produced by Healthbeat, a non-profit newsroom covering public health published by Civic News Company i KFF Health News.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism on health issues and is one of the core operating programs of KFF, an independent source of research, polling and journalism on health policy. More information about KFF.