In a memo published on Tuesday, Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Gilbert Cisneros told service members to avoid “all consumption” of poppy seeds, including in food products and baked goods.
According to the United States Anti-Doping Agency, poppy seeds can absorb opium extract when being harvested. This can then sometimes cause morphine and codeine — which are pain relief drugs in the opioid family — to be detected in urine up to 48 hours after poppy seeds are ingested, which can then cause false positives in drug testing.
The memo said that the Defense Department used cutoff dates to “distinguish morphine and codeine use from poppy seed ingestion,” but that recent data is showing that poppy seeds may have more codeine contamination than was previously thought.
“Recent data suggests certain poppy seeds varieties may have higher codeine contamination than previously reported,” the memo reads. “Consumption of poppy seed products could cause a codeine positive urinalysis result and undermine the Department’s ability to identify illicit drug use.”
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