I recently shared the arrival of Everything bagel seasoning on our shores. If, like me, you’ve fallen in love with the mixture of salt, dried garlic, dried onion, sesame and poppy seeds I have important news .

The Washington Post reported this week that importing popular gourmet brand, Trader Joe’s Everything but the Bagel seasoning could leave you a lawbreaker in the southeast Asian state.

The spice mix is on their banned list and has been since 2022. The cause of the problem are the poppy seeds, which are classified under South Korean law as a narcotic. This puts the American favourite food firmly on South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s list of ‘hazardous food purchased overseas’.

One poster on X/ Twitter, shared a warning sign displayed at the airport. The sign showed a picture of the seasoning mix and read in Korean: “We would like to inform you that the following products containing poppy seeds are restricted from being brought into the country as ‘Papaver Somniferum L,’ an ingredient of the poppy family designated as narcotic substance under South Korea’s narcotic drugs control law has been detected.  

Photo: X/Twitter

Possession of the seeds is punishable by up to five years in prison or a fine of approximately $36,000. At the very least you could find yourself handing over your precious jar and having to declare that you imported a narcotic item, as one honeymooning South Korean national returning from the US with a jar of Trader Joe’s Everything but the bagel-coated nuts.

Makes you wonder if we should be limiting our poppy seed bagel and challah consumption? Just how many would a person need to eat to see any effect? (Asking for a friend.) Probably more than most of us could manage.
On our shores, the Food Safety Standards agency guidelines confirm that while poppy seeds are obtained from the opium poppy plant which does contain narcotic alkaloids such morphine and codeine, the levels in even unwashed poppy seeds are very low. Perhaps my Friday nights are safe.