Service members could wish to maintain off ordering that “every thing” bagel.
It isn’t an city legend: Consuming poppy seeds may cause diners to check optimistic for codeine on a urinalysis, Protection Division officers stated in a memo launched yesterday.
“Latest knowledge suggests sure poppy seeds varieties could have increased codeine contamination than beforehand reported,” stated Gilbert R. Cisneros Jr., the undersecretary of protection for personnel and readiness. “Consumption of poppy seed merchandise might trigger a codeine-positive urinalysis outcome and undermine the division’s means to establish illicit drug use.”
This comes as one thing of a shock for the division. At one level, some meals ready-to-eat contained lemon poppy seed cake, and eating amenities usually served poppy seed salad dressing.
Officers grew to become conscious of the issue in 2022 and have labored to overview the “restricted scientific research and in addition contracted with an impartial laboratory to have the codeine and morphine contamination of a number of poppy seed manufacturers analyzed,” officers stated. “The evaluation and different just lately revealed research have been the catalyst for the warning concerning poppy seeds.”
The poppy seed memo calls on the Military, Navy and Air Power to inform service members “to keep away from consumption of all poppy seeds, together with meals merchandise and baked items containing poppy seeds.” Bagels, rolls, salads and salad dressing are the commonest meals with poppy seeds, however there are lots of different meals the place poppy seeds are used as spice. Many meals include poppy seeds within the Balkans, the Center East, and central and jap Europe.
It is attainable that some service members have been disciplined or discharged for “harmless or unknown ingestion” of poppy seeds, an official stated. “We’re at the moment working that evaluation and specializing in codeine-only optimistic checks from fiscal 12 months 2019 to current,” the official continued. “This timeline is predicated on at the moment accessible info. The quantity of poppy seeds consumed, focus of codeine detected in urine and time of consumption relative to the drug check are additionally essential components. As we collect extra info, we are going to reassess and replace, as applicable.”
In his memo, Cisneros stated service members ought to work with their native authorized workplace for any associated considerations with urinalysis outcomes.