Presenter ate poppy seed bread after a contributor to Rip Off Britain: Food said he had been sacked over failed drug test

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

She isn’t the first TV presenter you might associate with a drugs test, but Angela Rippon has tested positive for opiates after eating poppy seeds in a loaf of bread.



The test picked up the presence of morphine, derived from opium, after Rippon ate a loaf of poppy seed bread and a poppy seed bagel over the course of three days for the fourth series of Rip Off Britain: Food.

The experiment came about after a contributor to the programme said he had been fired from his job at a power station after a routine drug test showed opiates in his system.

Dumbfounded at first, he realised that the answer must be the poppy seed bread he had eaten for his breakfast toast.

Rippon, 72, said: “In more than 50 years of broadcasting I’ve found myself in a number of extraordinary situations. But I must say I never thought I’d find myself taking a drugs test, let alone have it come back positive.”

The BBC1 show explains how drug tests are becoming more common in work environments where employees drive, operate heavy machinery or where the job is a matter of public safety.

Consulting Prof Atholl Johnston, a toxicology expert at Queen Mary University, about her own result, Rippon asked: “Does that mean that if I was taking a test as an employee, that my employers could say there’s a possibility, Rippon, that you’re a drug taker?”

Johnston said: “The amount of morphine in a poppy seed will vary quite considerably depending on when and where it was harvested. In fact, when tests have been done there’s about a 600-fold variation in the amount of morphine in poppy seeds.”