I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2615
To prohibit the sale of food that is, or contains, unsafe poppy seeds.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL2, 2025
Mr. W
OMACK(for himself, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. HILLof Arkansas, Mr.
W
ESTERMAN, and Mr. CRAWFORD) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To prohibit the sale of food that is, or contains, unsafe
poppy seeds.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stephen Hacala Poppy 4
Seed Safety Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSE. 6
(a) F
INDINGS.—Congress finds as follows: 7
(1) Stephen Hacala was a 24-year-old from 8
Fayetteville, Arkansas, who was dearly loved by fam-9
ily and friends when he died from morphine intoxica-10
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tion caused by consumption of contaminated poppy 1
seeds. 2
(2) At least 19 people in the United States have 3
been confirmed to have died from morphine 4
overdoses from contaminated poppy seeds. 5
(3) Women in the United States have tested 6
positive for opiates in hospitals at childbirth due to 7
poppy seed consumption in food, leading to unwar-8
ranted scrutiny from child welfare officials. 9
(4) In 2023, the Department of Defense issued 10
a warning to all servicemembers to avoid poppy seed 11
consumption due to opiate contamination and the 12
risk of positive drug tests. 13
(5) Studies of pharmaceutical opiates have 14
found that a dose of just 20 to 50 morphine milli-15
gram equivalents per day increases the risk of over-16
dose and death among patients prescribed morphine 17
for pain treatment. 18
(6) Poppy products purchased in the United 19
States have been found to have up to 2,788 milli-20
grams of morphine per kilogram of seeds after ex-21
traction. 22
(7) While poppy seeds are excluded from the 23
definition of ‘‘opium poppy’’ and ‘‘poppy straw’’ 24
under the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 801 25
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•HR 2615 IH
et seq.), that definition does not exclude unwashed 1
poppy seeds that have been contaminated with 2
opium alkaloids from the latex of the plant. The 3
opium alkaloids (inclusive of morphine, codeine, and 4
thebaine), if present as contaminants on poppy seed 5
material, are also not exempted from control under 6
that Act. 7
(b) P
URPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to estab-8
lish levels for contamination of poppy seeds by morphine, 9
by codeine, and by other illicit compounds, after which 10
poppy seeds shall be considered adulterated substances 11
that are prohibited in interstate commerce. 12
SEC. 3. UNSAFE POPPY SEEDS AS ADULTERANTS IN FOOD. 13
The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall— 14
(1) not later than 1 year after the date of en-15
actment of this Act, issue a proposed rule estab-16
lishing levels for contamination of poppy seeds by 17
morphine, by codeine, and by other alkaloid com-18
pounds, and by any other compound which the Sec-19
retary may designate, after which poppy seeds shall 20
be deemed adulterated under section 402 of the Fed-21
eral Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (42 U.S.C. 342); 22
and 23
(2) not later than 2 years after the date of en-24
actment of this Act, finalize such rule. 25
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SEC. 4. POPPY SEEDS AS A CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE. 1
Nothing in this Act shall be construed as exempting 2
poppy seeds that are contaminated by morphine, codeine, 3
another alkaloid compound, or any other compound des-4
ignated by the Secretary of Health and Human Services 5
under section 3 from regulation under the Controlled Sub-6
stances Act (21 U.S.C. 801 et seq.). 7
Æ
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