Rippon poppy seed experiment flags up risk of failing drugs test
EATING poppy seed bread could lead to unsuspecting members of the public testing positive for opiates, experts have warned following a television experiment by Angela Rippon.
A professor said the amount of mor- phine in poppy seeds “varied considerably” but could lead to unexpected drug test results.
Rippon tested positive for opiates after eating a loaf of poppy seed bread and a poppy seed bagel over the course of three days. The test, conducted for television show Rip Off Britain: Food, picked up the presence of morphine, which is derived from opium.
The poppy seed experiment came after a viewer claimed he had been sacked from his job at a power station after a routine drug test showed opiates in his system. Protesting his innocence, he went on to realise that the result may have been caused by the poppy seed bread he had eaten for his breakfast toast.
Rippon, 72, said: “In more than 50 years of broadcasting I’ve found myself in a number of extraordinary situations. But I must say I never thought I’d find myself taking a drugs test, let alone have it come back positive.”
Rippon undertook a urine screening test as the show explained how drugs tests are becoming more common in work environments where employees drive, operate heavy machinery or where the job is a matter of public safety.
Rippon consulted Prof Atholl Johnston, a Queen Mary University toxicology expert, about her result, and asked: “Does that mean that if I was taking a test as an employee, that my employers could say there’s a possibility, Rippon, that you’re a drug taker?”
Prof Johnston explained: “The amount of morphine in a poppy seed will vary quite considerably depending on when and where it was harvested.
“In fact when tests have been done there’s about a six-hundred fold variation in the amount of morphine in poppy seeds.”
The fourth series of Rip Off Britain: Food, with Angela Rippon, Gloria Hunniford and Julia Somerville, begins at 10.45am on BBC One on Monday.