Eating a Costco salad nearly ruined my life — I had no idea

An expectant mother grabbed a healthy lunch on her way to the hospital — and had her newborn taken away as a result.

The dystopian saga unfolded after Susan Horton, a stay-at-home mom from Northern California, squeezed in a few bites of pre-made salad from Costco as she prepared to give birth to her fifth child in August 2022. 

She then went into labor, soon welcoming her daughter, Halle into the world. 

Horton believed everything had gone well. The morning after, however, she received a piece of shocking news from a nurse on the maternity ward — she’d tested positive for opiates.

Having avoided any narcotic pain relief during labor, the exhausted mama was utterly confused, she told Mother Jones.

“You’re sure it was mine?” she questioned the nurse, insisting she’d never taken an illicit drug in her life. 

At first, Horton speculated that her urine sample might have been mixed up with someone else’s.

Then she remembered that her last meal had contained poppy seeds — known to naturally contain trace amounts of opiate residue, even after they’re processed.

Positive outcomes after consuming the culinary accoutrement are common enough that the US Department of Defense has warned soldiers not to eat poppy seeds — noting that they could affect test results.

Urine drug screens have also been found to be easily misinterpreted, with false positive rates as high as 50 percent, according to multiple studies. 

But staffers at the Kaiser Permanente hospital in Santa Rosa, Calif., were determined to escalate the situation, the outlet reported.

Nurses reported the unsubstantiated finding to child welfare, and a social worker soon arrived to take the baby girl into protective custody.

“They had a singular piece of evidence that I had taken something,” an agonized Horton recounted. “And it was wrong.” 

“Mom and dad insistent that a Costco salad with poppyseed dressing is responsible,” a doctor wrote in her notes. Another doctor wrote: “We are unable to verify whether this could result in a positive test.”

After a second test came back positive for this opiate, the situation escalated.  

California law, unlike many other states, requires more than just a positive drug test to officially accuse a parent of child abuse.

Unfortunately, Horton had missed several prenatal appointments — due to worries over COVID-19 as well as a medical situation with one of her other children, the perturbed parent explained.

Because skipped checkups are considered by providers as a red flag for drug abuse, a hospital social worker decided to move forward with her case. 

Horton and her husband pleaded with doctors and insisted that keeping her baby in the hospital was unnecessary.

“I’m not a drug addict,” she said she pleaded. Her husband called the police in an effort to stop the hospital, records inspected by Mother Jones show. 

Things went further sideways, however, when the enraged parents refused to allow investigators to inspect their home, or interview their family and friends.

So, little Halle’s caseworker secured a court order and placed the precious bundle with her grandparents — expressly forbidding the parents from spending time alone with their new daughter.

Horton arrived in court several days later when the caseworker claimed that Horton’s alleged drug use posed a danger to her child.

In an effort to regain custody, Horton agreed to another drug test, which was monitored by a worker, and to finally have her home inspected.

After nearly two weeks, the child welfare agency, apparently now satisfied, decided to withdraw its petition. A judge dismissed the case and the family was reunited. 

The Post has contacted Kaiser Permanente, the largest private employer in the state, for comment.

“I had a lot of confidence in how I mother and how I parent,” Horton told Mother Jones. “Now in my head, I’m always questioning my choices.” 

“I just always have that looming feeling that at any moment [Child Protective Services] could come knocking and take my children away.” 

Bizarrely, Horton is not the first mother to have her children taken away over the issue.

Watchdogs including the ACLU have been investigating the problem for years, calling for better protections for mothers and their children.

“People should be concerned,” Dr. Stephen Patrick, a leading neonatal researcher who chairs the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta, told Mother Jones.

“This could happen to any one of us.”