In a shocking revelation, China Food and Drug Administration has announced that it has prosecuted five restaurants and other 30 restaurants are still under investigation for using 'opium poppies' in their dishes.        

These 35 restaurants were reported to be using Poppy powder, which contains low amounts of opiates, as seasoning. Poppy powder is banned as a food additive across China.              

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One of the restaurants that was hit by this crackdown is popular Huda Restaurant chain, based in Beijing city.

General Manager of Huda 'Hu Ling' has confirmed to Chinese media that the restaurant chains is indeed under investigation by China Food and Drug Administration.                     

Huda's General Manager, however, claimed 'innocence' and stated that workers may have unknowingly bought seasoning contaminated with 'opiates'.

Meanwhile, officials from China Food and Drug Administration have urged local authorities to help them nail the actual source of these poppies.      

Chinese Restaurants have been hit by opium scandal in past

This is not the first time that Chinese restaurants have faced prosecution or come under the spotlight for using opium poppies in their dishes.

In 2012, seven local restaurants in Ningxia province had to close down after investigations revealed that they had used opium poppies in their dishes. But the worst case of opium poppies surfaced in 2004, when as many as 215 restaurants in Guizhou province had to shut down after they were found guilty of similar charges.                  

In recent years, Chinese restaurant industry has also been rocked by other types of scandals.

In 2014, a Shanghai based food supplier was accused of supplying unsanitary and expired chicken meat to food chains across China, including high profile restaurant chains like KFC, Starbucks and MacDonald's.   

TagsChinese Restaurants, opium