The seeds contain traces amounts of opiates.
A mother’s birth story turned nightmarish when a breakfast she ate before delivering her daughter caused her to test positive for opioids.
Elizabeth Eden, a Maryland mom, nearly lost her baby to the state in the days and weeks after she gave birth, all because a morning bagel caused a false positive on a drug test administered before she gave birth.
“I never thought the amount of poppy seeds on an everything bagel would have me reported to the state as a drug abuser,” Eden told Inside Edition.
It all started the morning she was due, when she stopped by her local bagel store and picked up the usual – an everything bagel with strawberry cream cheese spread.
While she was in active labor at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Baltimore, she got the shocking news.
“The doctor came in and said, ‘You’ve tested positive for opiates,’” Eden recalled. “I said, ‘There’s got to be some mistake.’”
She believes the culprit of the false positive was the poppy seeds on the bagel. Research shows that just one teaspoon of poppy seeds can lead to a failed drug test.
Despite her protests and request for a retest, Eden was reported to state authorities as a suspected drug user and immediately after giving birth, her newborn was held in the hospital for drug testing.
State law requires hospitals to test all mothers and newborns for controlled substances, and report any positive tests, the hospital told Inside Edition.
“They said for the next five days, every four hours, they’re going to test her for withdrawal symptoms,” she explained. “I thought I was in 'The Twilight Zone.'”
After the mandatory stay period at the hospital, social workers continued to investigate them at home.
Her husband, Brian, said, “I think we were both in shock. It’s not something I’ve ever heard of.”
It took three weeks for the family to be vindicated and for baby Beatrice to be deemed clean.
Eden’s one piece of advice from the whole ordeal: “If you’re anywhere close to delivery, avoid poppy seeds.”
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