Chinese restaurant with spices mixed with drugs in hot pot to attract more customers

A hot pot restaurant in China was caught using poppies, a drug, as spices. China’s Xiao Xiang Morning News reported, “The public security and market supervision bureau in Changchang, Hubei Province, conducted a food safety inspection of local restaurants and confirmed that morphine, a drug ingredient, was detected in the food waste of a restaurant.” The authorities immediately launched an investigation into the restaurant, and a transparent seasoning container containing suspicious powder was found in the kitchen. At the time, the restaurant owner, identified only by his surname Li, reportedly claimed, “The seasoning was made by himself,” and “It contains spices such as octagonal and excess.”

However, when the police conducted an instant drug test, morphine was detected in the seasoning, and the expert analysis agency later said opium ingredients such as morphine, codeine, tibine, and nalcotin were detected in the seasoning.

Lee has been grinding poppy fruits and mixing them with spices since February last year. “I found out that it tastes better if you put poppies in hot pot as a seasoning,” he told police. “I used it to make the food taste better and attract customers.”

The police explained, “Lee seems to have done this, thinking that it would not be easily caught if he used poppy fruit by grinding it.” Lee was sentenced to six months in prison for producing and selling harmful food, suspended for one year, and fined 10 times the amount sold, and will not be able to engage in food manufacturing and sales business for the rest of his life.

The use of poppies as a seasoning in China is nothing new. In May last year, police in Taizhang County, southwestern China’s Guizhou Province, found opium poppies on the roof of a residential building while patrolling with a drone. After the on-site investigation, more than 900 opium poppies were on the roof. A woman who grew poppies said, “They were grown for use as a ‘special’ spice for hot pot houses.” In 2016, authorities cracked down on the use of poppies in 35 famous restaurants.

Opium extracted from poppy fruits can be used to make highly addictive drugs such as morphine, heroin, and codeine, which are being cracked down on. However, many restaurants in China are still reported to use poppies as condiments.

SAM KIM

US ASIA JOURNAL