Poppy seed ingestion

Particularly troublesome to urinalysis are challenges that a positive result was caused by subversive actions (e.g., spiked food or drink), by passive drug exposure (e.g., poppy seed ingestion), or by sample contamination. We will show in the present paper that hair analysis, by being able to detect such interpretive false positives, is in a much stronger probative position than urinalysis and that this advantage can... 

ElSohly HN, ElSohly MA, Stanford DF. Poppy seed ingestion and opiate urinalysis A closer look. J Anal Toxicol 1990 14 308-10. 

Selavka CM. Poppy seed ingestion as a contributing factor to opiate-positive urinalysis results The Pacific perspective. J Forensic Sci 1991 36 685-96. 

Mayer DJ, Price DD. (1976). Central nervous system mechanisms of analgesia. Pain. 2(4) 379-404. Meadway C, George S, Braithwaite R. (1998). Opiate concentrations following the ingestion of poppy seed products—evidence for "the poppy seed defence". Forensic Sci Int. 96(1) 29-38. 

Federal standards were set higher to account for the possibility that poppy seed foods had been ingested. ... 

The validity of these theoretically determined cutoff levels was evaluated by the various field studies described below. In some of these this involved comparing the results of hair analysis to those of urinalysis and self-reports. In the case of cocaine and morphine the validation of endogenous cutoff levels involved also the controlled administration of these substances. - With morphine this was done with poppy seed and involved a comparison of hair and urine results. These experiments clearly demonstrated the greater effectiveness of the endogenous cutoff levels used by hair analysis, for all attempts to exceed the opiate cutoff level of hair analysis by the massive ingestion of poppy seeds failed. In contrast to this, the cutoff level of urinalysis was exceeded by wide margins. That this particular problem of urinalysis is not unique to poppy seeds has been demonstrated experimentally by Baselt and Change in the case of cocaine. 

Hayes, LW, Krasselt, WG, Mueggler, PA. Concentrations of morphine and codeine in serum and urine after ingestion of poppy seeds. Clin Chem, 36 806-8, 1987. 

Struempler RE, Excretion of codeine and morphine following ingestion of poppy seeds. J Anal Toxicol 1987 11 97-9. 

The analytical methods most widely practised in laboratories for workplace drug testing have been well validated and are highly reliable. However, some problems continue to be of concern. For example, ingestion of certain legitimate food products can result in a urine sample testing positive for a controlled drug. Poppy seeds, widely used in bakery products, contain low concentrations of morphine, and hemp oil contains low concentrations of A -tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive component... 

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