EVERY chef likes to boast of a secret ingredient guaranteed to get diners asking for more. But customers at a range of restaurants across southern China may have been getting a lot more than they bargained for.

More than 200 restaurants — some famed far and wide for their delicious spicy snacks, soups and noodles — have been closed by health officials after spot checks revealed the ingredient that had customers literally addicted to their specialities: opium.

In the province of Guizhou, an estimated 10 per cent of eateries were found to be lacing food with opium seeds and poppies, local media reported yesterday. Opium was said to be most common in soups, beef noodles, mutton stir-fries and dog-meat dishes.

Zhang Xing, a drug control official, said: “People are under the misconception that poppy shells can make their dishes more delicious. They are not aware of the harm they will do to their health.”

Investigators shut down 215 restaurants after making 2,640 spot checks and confiscating more than 7lb of poppy seeds and 3lb of shells.

Opium spiking is believed to be widespread in southern China and has led to drug addiction among restaurant customers. Newspapers have recently also reported cases of opium lacing in eastern China, including Shanghai and Qingdao.

Wei Tao, a Guizhou food safety official, said: “All the soup samples we took showed traces of opium. Some customers who regularly consumed these types of dishes have become addicted. Some were even tempted to take drugs directly in particularly serious cases.”

Mr Zhang said: “We have received numerous reports lately on the illegal use of poppy in restaurants. Such tip-offs triggered the investigation.”

The poppy shells and seeds used in Guizhou probably came from nearby Burma, one of the world’s main opium producers.

As China’s urban entrepreneurial class grows ever richer, chefs have devised ever more exotic and expensive dishes to accommodate a new hedonism in the land once fed by what was known as the “iron rice bowl”.

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