Forget about contaminated phở. In parts of China, vendors have been caught lacing their noodles with opiates in the hopes of keeping their customers coming back to get their fix.
According to Quartz, Chinese authorities recently busted a restaurant after a customer screened positive for opiates during a routine urine screen.
This is far from an isolated incident.
A 2011 investigation found that restaurant owners are the main customers for the merchants who sell the illegal poppy products at markets.
Since 2004, hundreds of eateries around China have been shut down after authorities found them dispensing opiate-laced food.
While developing a serious drug addiction from eating a bowl of soup if majorly uncool, the aforementioned diner who tested positive caught a seriously bad break as he remains imprisoned for his involuntary opiate consumption.
“Whether it’s through self-inflicted drug use or unwitting food consumption, it’s still drug use,” local police chief Ma Yubin told the Xi’an Evening News. “The law doesn’t draw a sharp distinction between the two.”
Ouch.
[Quartz]
