This Beloved Trader Joe’s Seasoning Could Make Fans Unwitting Drug Smugglers In This Country

Travelers worldwide encounter numerous warning signs at airport security checkpoints: no guns, no water, no razors. Over the past two-and-a-half decades, security has tightened due to wars, terrorism, and emerging threats we never had to consider before.

The newest threat isn’t a weapon of mass destruction or an incendiary device. In fact, it isn’t even a device at all.

According to a report from the Washington Times, It’s Everything But the Bagel Seasoning from Trader Joe’s.

X (formerly Twitter) user @tothemerciless posted last week the newest signs popping up at Incheon International Airport in South Korea detailing a ban on Trader Joe’s most popular seasoning blend:

So why the international ban? Poppy seeds. The sign reads:

“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.”

Poppy seeds have been banned from entering South Korea since 2022, categorizing the poppy seeds as a narcotic and therefore illegal to bring into the country. The American Embassy in South Korea even warns U.S. travelers that “attempting to travel into Korea with these products could result in a criminal investigation resulting in fines, entry and exit bans, or even imprisonment.”

Despite their illegal status, experts say it’s nearly impossible for anyone to consume enough poppy seeds to get high. An article from the University of Florida School of Medicine in February 2023 explained that “poppy seeds don’t have nearly enough opiates to intoxicate you. But because drug tests are exquisitely sensitive, consuming certain poppy seed food products can lead to positive urine drug test results for opiates – specifically for morphine, codeine or both.”

Lesson of the day: leave the seasonings at home. I’m sure South Korean food will make up any flavor deficits that may befall you.