If you've ever taken a drug test, you’ve probably heard the warnings about eating a poppy seed bagel beforehand. Or maybe you’ve seen the episode of Seinfeld where a poppy seed muffin causes Elaine to fail a drug test. And if you’re in the military, you may have received a memo advising you to avoid eating poppy seeds altogether.
But how can something as innocuous as an everything bagel trigger a positive result on a drug test? We consulted Dr. Aaron Emmel, Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist, to unpack everything you need to know about poppy seeds.
What Are Poppy Seeds?
To nobody’s surprise, poppy seeds are the seeds of a poppy flower—specifically the papaver somniferum. This variety, also known as a breadseed or opium poppy, has been cultivated and used by humans for millennia. Ancient Romans and Greeks heralded the plant as a powerful pain reliever.
Papaver somniferum was traded along the Silk Road and even sparked the Opium Wars of the mid-19th century. But why is the demand for this flower so high? The seed pods of the flowers contain latex, a milky substance that’s rich in certain opium alkaloid compounds.
“The latex of the seeds actually contains morphine and codeine, which are both controlled substance opiates,” Emmel says.
The latex coats the exterior of each poppy seed. That means when you eat poppy seeds, you’re ingesting varying amounts of codeine and morphine, depending on how the seeds were harvested and processed. Most poppy seeds you'll see have been washed to reduce the amount of opium alkaloids, but they won’t be eliminated entirely.
How Many Poppy Seeds Are Needed To Trigger A Positive Result?
You really don’t need much. Drug tests are designed to be particularly sensitive, so even comparatively small doses of narcotic substances will affect your results.
“It actually doesn't take as much as you would think,” Emmel says. “Even ingesting a single poppy seed bagel or mixed poppy baked good can result in levels of codeine and morphine that will trigger a positive test.”
It’s also difficult for drug-testing technology to distinguish the difference between poppy seed-induced positive results versus ones caused by narcotic use. “The challenge with testing in this instance is that the poppy products actually contain morphine and codeine,” Emmel says.
Emmel explains that it was once believed that assessing the ratios of codeine to morphine concentrations could help distinguish poppy seed-specific results. “But recent reports have shown that even normal dietary ingestion of poppy products can result in a drug screen that violates this rule,” he adds.
Stories about military service members and athletes receiving false positives on drug tests have been widely published, but it can happen to anyone. As The Marshall Project recently reported, a mother who ate a salad from Costco containing poppy seeds in 2022 failed a drug test shortly before giving birth. This led to her newborn child being taken from her and put into protective custody.
How Long Do Poppy Seeds Stay In Your System?
Everybody digests and metabolizes differently, so there is no clear cut answer here. Other environmental variables include the product you consumed, your genetics, kidney function, and interactions with medication.
“A bagel that just has a layer of poppy seeds on the outside will contain less opiate products than a baked good made from a poppy paste, and a drug test may be negative within 24 hours,” Emmel says.
Larger quantities of poppy seeds may take twice as long to metabolize, if not longer. That timeline can be further compounded based on your kidney function or the speed of your metabolism. Is an everything bagel going to get you high? No. But it’s still worth avoiding if you have an upcoming drug test.
