China Exclusive: Poppy seasoning scandals expose malpractice in food industry

A string of restaurants discovered using poppy capsules for seasoning have exposed a shocking practice in China's food industry.

On Wednesday, authorities busted a noodle restaurant for adding the potentially-addictive poppy capsule into mutton noodles in Yulin City, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, according to the local Huashang Newspaper.

The latest case comes just one week after 35 restaurants and snack bars nationwide were investigated for adding poppy capsules or other illegal ingredients to food. Two of the bars investigated reportedly belonged to Zhouheiya, one of the country's most popular duck-neck snack brands, though Zhouheiya clarified that the two bars were copycats.

The poppy capsule, dried pericarp from the ripe fruit of an opium poppy plant, contains more than 20 types of alkaloids, including those found in morphine and cocaine. With pain-easing and cough-relieving effects, it is used in the medical industry in China.

According to the Guangzhou Daily, most of the restaurants found using poppy serve heavily-flavored Chinese food like hotpot, grilled fish and fried chicken.

The recent cases have stirred concern amongst internet users, with a story eliciting more than 9,800 comments on web portal 163.com by 8 a.m.Friday.

"Do they have any conscience at all?" wrote one user.

"At least it's not gutter oil," mocked another, referring to the illegal practice of recycling cooking oil by collecting it from the drains and gutters surrounding restaurants and refining it to sell.

It has been an "open secret" in the Chinese food industry that poppy-derived powder is used as a "secret ingredient" at some small restaurants in dishes or hotpots to improve the taste and lure customers to come back for more.

DOPE IN ADDICTIVE CHINESE SNACKS

China bans the use of the poppy capsules in food because long-term consumption of poppy capsules can lead to addiction. Transporting, buying, selling, storing, or using even small amounts of poppy can lead to detention for up to 15 days, and a fine of up to 3,000 yuan (456 U.S. dollars).

Still, the practice persists and is often done by small restaurants and snack bars, said a hotpot restaurant cook in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

"In the past, vendors would grind the poppy capsules and put the powder in the soup base, but that was easily detected by inspectors," he said. "Now they add the powder to ajino-moto (monosodium glutamate) or put it in a sauce used by customers as a condiment.

At a street market for cooking ingredients, a female shop owner, who wished to remain anonymous, displayed her selection of poppy capsules for Xinhua reporters.

"We mainly sell to familiar buyers," she said. "You have to reserve one week in advance."

High quality poppies can be sold for as much as 400 yuan per kg, she said, adding they are almost always a sold-out.

"It's quite effective," the woman added. "Many small-scale hotpot restaurants frequently buy from me. It keeps the customers coming back for more."

Long-term consumption of poppy capsules can cause damage to the nervous system and induce chronic intoxication, according to Zhao Lan, a doctor with the Third People's Hospital in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan.

Liu Ying, a food inspection official in Shaanxi Province, said the fight against the malpractice remains difficult as it is hard to find specific proof during inspection.

"The illegal businesses usually grind the poppy capsules into powder and put it in spicy oil or other regular seasoning materials, which is hard to see visibly and difficult to detect," Liu said.

Hu Yinglian, an associate professor with the Chinese Academy of Governance, said low levels of consumption in China still prevails, allowing small-scale businesses to cash in on customers illegally.

"The scandals are also a reflection of loose supervision in the Chinese market," Hu said.

Hu suggested building up a mechanism where different government departments can work together to improve food quality in China. Endi