Chinese Restaurants Seasoned Food with Opium

The appropriate amount of seasoning is essential for each delicious food. Even if it's simply salt and pepper, getting it wrong may ruin the entire dish. However, you should usually check to be sure that whatever seasoning you use—whether it's Mrs. Dash or ras el hanout—is actually a seasoning and not, for example, a dangerous and illegal drug.

Chinese authorities cracked down on many eateries that were discovered to be seasoning their food with opium. In 2016, 35 restaurants were charged, and it had also occurred in previous years. Instead of using pure opium, the restaurants employed opium poppies, which contain minute amounts of the narcotic. The idea is that a small amount of opium would make you addicted to the restaurant's food and make you want to keep visiting. At least one business owner asserted they were tricked and hadn't purposefully purchased the illicit seasoning.