Chipotle may be suffering from a little E.Coli break, not enough to deter its most loyal customers, but at least it's not secretly drugging customers. That's more than what 35 restaurants in China can say for themselves.
China's Food and Drug Administration discovered 35 restaurants were using opium, which comes from the poppy plant, as food seasoning. The CFDA doesn't know exactly how the opium was transferred to the food, but news agency Xinhau reported poppy powder can be bought in China with one kilogram going for $60. It reportedly becomes hard to detect, even in a laboratory, when combined with chilli oil as it is so often mixed in. The drug has been used by chefs in the past to get customers addicted to the opium, therein their food,forcing them to come back for more. Recently Shannaxi provincial police found a noodle seller was seasoning with opium in 2014. A larger case took place in 2004 with 215 restaurants closing for the same reason.
The CFDA says out of the 35 restaurants, 30 are under investigation and five face prosecution after the discovery of opium use as seasoning in the restaurants' food.
Chipotle's sounding good right about now isn't it? Well, make sure you don't go on the day the chain is closing its doors at all locations.
