One Chip Challenge pulled after teen dies. It's eating pepper spray...

[FrenzyTickles]

Nasty volcanic "One Chip Challenge" may have killed one teen. This sh(t has weapon-grade chemicals in it.
Parent company is Hershey (!!) Were they aware?
I love their chocolate, but really, they don't make enough profit selling diabetes??

Their greedy Texan subsidiary Paqui had to market Napalm Diablo Chips???

Of COURSE teens were going to be lured in by this packaging... 😡 Absolute bastards.


https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/company-pulls-spicy-one-chip-210521219.html

AP Finance
Company pulls spicy One Chip Challenge from store shelves as Massachusetts investigates teen's death
MICHAEL CASEY and STEVE LeBLANC
Updated Thu, September 7, 2023, 9:01 PM

A package of Paqui OneChipChallenge spicy tortilla chips is seen on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023, in Boston.

Authorities are raising the alarm about a OneChipChallenge social media trend that encourages people to avoid seeking relief from eating and drinking for as long as possible after eating the chips, days after a Massachusetts teenager died hours after taking part in the challenge. The dare is popular on social media sites, with scores of people including children unwrapping the packaging, eating the chips and reacting to the heat.

US Teen Death Spicy Chips

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — The maker of an extremely spicy tortilla chip sold as the One Chip Challenge and popularized as a dare on social media is pulling the product after the family of a Massachusetts teenager blamed the stunt for his death.

The cause of Harris Wolobah's death last Friday hasn't been determined and an autopsy was still pending as of Thursday, but the 14-year-old's family blames the challenge. Since his death, the Texas-based manufacturer, Paqui, has asked retailers to stop selling the individually wrapped chips — a step 7-Eleven has already taken.

The One Chip Challenge chip sells for about $10 and comes wrapped in a sealed foil pouch that is enclosed in a coffin-shaped cardboard box. The package warns that the chip is made for the “vengeful pleasure of intense heat and pain,” is intended for adults and should be kept out of reach of children.

Paqui, a subsidiary of The Hershey Company, said in a statement posted on its website Thursday that it was “deeply saddened by the death” of Wolobah.

“We have seen an increase in teens and other individuals not heeding these warnings,” the company said. “As a result, while the product continues to adhere to food safety standards, out of abundance of caution, we are actively working with retailers to remove the product from shelves."

Authorities in Massachusetts have also responded to the death by warning parents about the challenge, which is is popular on social media sites such as TikTok. Scores of people, including children, post videos of themselves unwrapping the packaging, eating the spicy chips and then reacting to the heat. Some videos show people gagging, coughing and begging for water.

“We urge parents to discuss this with their children and advise them not to partake in this activity,” Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early said in a series of posts about the challenge on the social network X, formerly known as Twitter. “The company warnings state the chips are intended for adult consumption. Other states across the country have seen hospitalizations due to the chip challenge, including teens.”

There have been reports from around the country of people who have gotten sick after taking part in the challenge, including three students from a California high school who were sent to a hospital. And paramedics were called to a Minnesota school last year when seven students fell ill after taking part in the challenge.

“You can have very mild symptoms like burning or tingling of the lips in the mouth, but you can also have more severe symptoms,” said Dr. Lauren Rice, the chief of pediatric emergency medicine at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, noting that this is an opportunity for parents, coaches, teachers to learn about the various social media challenges that are out there and could pose dangers.

“This goes back to the ingredients that are used with the tortilla chip,” she continued. “There are some spices like capsaicin, which is a chemical ingredient that we use in things like pepper spray and so they are very strong chemicals and they can be very irritating. Some of the more severe symptoms that we see can be things like significant abdominal pain or nausea and vomiting."

Dr. Peter Chai, an associate professor of emergency medicine and medical toxicology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said these chips can be dangerous under certain circumstances.

“It's possible eating these chips with high concentration of capsaicin could cause death,” he said. “It would really depend on the amount of capsaicin that an individual was exposed to. At high doses, it can lead to fatal dysrhythmia or irreversible injury to the heart.”

Police in Worcester, which is in central Massachusetts and is the state's second-largest city, said in a statement that they were called to Wolobah's house Friday afternoon and found him “unresponsive and not breathing.” He was transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Family and friends of Wolobah believe the chips caused his death, and his family called for the chips to be banned from store shelves.

“The chip is responsible in our eyes for whatever took place because he was a healthy kid,” said Douglas Hill, who runs the basketball league Wolobah played in and described him as a quiet teen whose family came to the U.S. from Liberia.

“The conversation now is about the chip, but there will be other challenges coming and we want to make sure children know they shouldn't be participating in anything that could put them in harm's way,” said Douglas, who organized a basketball event Saturday to honor the teen. A Friday vigil is also planned.

There can be no doubt about why someone would eat these chips.

In addition to its name, One Chip Challenge, the package lays out the “rules for the challenge,” which encourages the buyer to eat the entire chip, “wait as long as possible before drinking or eating anything,” and post their reaction on social media. The packaging also asks how long can the individual last on a scale from one minute to one hour.

The back of the package warns buyers not to eat the chip if they are “sensitive to spicy foods, allergic to peppers, night shades or capsaicin or are pregnant or have any medical conditions.” It also said individuals should wash their hands after touching the chip and “seek medical assistance should you experience difficulty breathing, fainting or extended nausea.”

 

[lostphilosopher]

Why was this a thing in the first place?

 

[FrenzyTickles]

Good question! :/ Who would actually....

There are so many of these idiotic social media "Challenges" daring immature "adults" to do harmful things to themselves or others (or others' property...).

Some smug manipulative marketer /sociopath puts out an "I dare you to do this" and too many of these lemmings can't resist jumping off the bridge.

 

[Sunriseticklee]

DAMN!

I had NO idea they used an agent that is also used in pepper spray!
That's insane!

 

[FrenzyTickles]

DAMN!

I had NO idea they used an agent that is also used in pepper spray!
That's insane!

"Insane" is the word! --- Who saw that coming? It's scary, what manufacturers stick in our "food."

And frightening that kids will spend 10.00 or whatever to eat nuclear waste to score social points.

 

[BlueLine7045]

I'm not really surprised. Kids today with their Tik Tok challenges and everything, it's all so stupid and idiotic. It's a shame that yet another teenager had to lose their lives to one of these stupid challenges, but it isn't the first time it happened and it certainly won't be the last.

I do agree that the company definitely bears a good amount of the responsibility here. As you said, and I agree, they knew what they were doing creating this challenge. I haven't been on social media in years, because it's gotten really stupid, but we all know which generation of people are more likely to do these challenges. The younger generations as opposed to older.

Still, they do have warning labels and no one forced the teenager to do the challenge.

As far as the chip goes, people are always looking for hotter and hotter foods to eat. A few of my friends aren't really affected by super hot foods compared to myself and others. For them, there really isn't such a thing as "too hot". They would probably honestly love this. But yeah, chemicals in foods today and how processed our foods are becoming scares me. I remember reading an article a little while ago about how food testers went around to different restaurants testing their seafood (lobster I believe) and found out that they weren't even selling real lobster. It was cheap imitation lobster despite the restaurants claiming the lobster meat was real and authentic.

Even foods we consider to be healthy aren't safe anymore from processing.

 

[BBGuy5240]

I've eaten peppers like scorpion, carolina reaper, ghost, and pepper x. And dozens of sauces with said peppers in them. I also love things like some Nashville Hot Chicken. A spot specialising in that opened near my place last year, and I go there all the time and always get the spiciest thing they have. It's delicious. I love some spice, and have been a fan of spice eversince I was a kid. I think I was around five when I had my first taste of hot sauce. However, there is a point where too much spice makes something not only inedible, but dangerous. And usually, extracts are involved. I watch shows like Man V Food all the time. And some of the challenges that are spice based do involve extracts. You have to be super careful with that. I've had extract dishes before, but when it's used responsibly a dish can still be tasty. But when it's reckless, any dish will become not only inedible, but also possibly life threatening. I remember Adam Richman talking about the worst challenge he ever did on Man v Food. It was a hot wing challenge where the chef just doused all of the wings with an extract. The challenge called for just a little extract, but the chef just obliterated the wings with it. The director in charge of the episode saw it happen, but didn't know that he had the power to shut things down whenever he wanted. I think Richman said the guy had just got there and it was his first episode as a director. Richman got through I think one wing. And afterwards, his tongue and nasal passages had completely swollen.

I did the One Chip Challenge years ago when it first became a thing. It was brutal, but doable if you have a good spice tolerance. It still wasn't for the faint of heart though. Like I just said, it was brutal. They definitely turned it up a notch with their newer chips. I never got around to trying their recent product, but others have told me that it's 100xs worse. I like pushing myself at times when it comes to spice, but I do like having some enjoyment when I spice things up.

With all this being said, I don't agree with the product being pulled from shelves. What happened to this 14 year old was tragic, however the company makes it clear that the challenge is for adults. If the 14 year old died from alcohol poisoning, we're not gonna demand that alcohol be pulled from the shelves.

 

[BlueLine7045]

I've eaten peppers like scorpion, carolina reaper, ghost, and pepper x. And dozens of sauces with said peppers in them. I also love things like some Nashville Hot Chicken. A spot specialising in that opened near my place last year, and I go there all the time and always get the spiciest thing they have. It's delicious. I love some spice, and have been a fan of spice eversince I was a kid. I think I was around five when I had my first taste of hot sauce. However, there is a point where too much spice makes something not only inedible, but dangerous. And usually, extracts are involved. I watch shows like Man V Food all the time. And some of the challenges that are spice based do involve extracts. You have to be super careful with that. I've had extract dishes before, but when it's used responsibly a dish can still be tasty. But when it's reckless, any dish will become not only inedible, but also possibly life threatening. I remember Adam Richman talking about the worst challenge he ever did on Man v Food. It was a hot wing challenge where the chef just doused all of the wings with an extract. The challenge called for just a little extract, but the chef just obliterated the wings with it. The director in charge of the episode saw it happen, but didn't know that he had the power to shut things down whenever he wanted. I think Richman said the guy had just got there and it was his first episode as a director. Richman got through I think one wing. And afterwards, his tongue and nasal passages had completely swollen.

I did the One Chip Challenge years ago when it first became a thing. It was brutal, but doable if you have a good spice tolerance. It still wasn't for the faint of heart though. Like I just said, it was brutal. They definitely turned it up a notch with their newer chips. I never got around to trying their recent product, but others have told me that it's 100xs worse. I like pushing myself at times when it comes to spice, but I do like having some enjoyment when I spice things up.

With all this being said, I don't agree with the product being pulled from shelves. What happened to this 14 year old was tragic, however the company makes it clear that the challenge is for adults. If the 14 year old died from alcohol poisoning, we're not gonna demand that alcohol be pulled from the shelves.

Huh. I didn't know all that. You're very knowledgeable of spices and hot foods. I'm also unfamiliar with the one chip challenge.

In the end though, I do ultimately agree with your conclusion. While the company has made a potentially dangerous product, they also set out some rules and warnings for who the product is for.

The 14 year old and/or the 14 year oldest parents decided to blatantly ignore any and all safety warnings created by this company and gave suffered the consequences. They then immediately turn around pointing fingers and casting blame at all but themselves.

At the end of the day, it's just another sad, unfortunately classic case of blaming others for one's own choices and mistakes which seems to be more and more common in society today. Still, they'll probably win their lawsuit, get tons of money, and the product will be pulled from shelves for everyone.

 

[BBGuy5240]

Huh. I didn't know all that. You're very knowledgeable of spices and hot foods. I'm also unfamiliar with the one chip challenge.

In the end though, I do ultimately agree with your conclusion. While the company has made a potentially dangerous product, they also set out some rules and warnings for who the product is for.

The 14 year old and/or the 14 year oldest parents decided to blatantly ignore any and all safety warnings created by this company and gave suffered the consequences. They then immediately turn around pointing fingers and casting blame at all but themselves.

At the end of the day, it's just another sad, unfortunately classic case of blaming others for one's own choices and mistakes which seems to be more and more common in society today. Still, they'll probably win their lawsuit, get tons of money, and the product will be pulled from shelves for everyone.

Yeah you really have to know about spice if you're gonna get into the heavier stuff. It took me years to get to where I am now with spice tolerance, and I found out a number of times along the way that it is indeed a process. There were plenty of moments where I tried something I thought I could handle, only to find out that I couldn't. You have to know what you're messing with. And it's not like the crazier stuff isn't spicy anymore. It's still very very spicy, I can just tolerate it.

And yeah, most people do ignore the warnings with challenges like the One Chip, but that's not on the company. Because they're clear with their warnings.

The spot I mentioned that opened up near my place, there are levels of spice when it comes to their menu. The hottest level there, a waiver is required. And other spice levels that aren't as hot but still pack a serious punch, on the receipts it'll actually say "No Refunds". I assume that's because customers have come back saying that what they ordered was hotter than they thought.

 

[BlueLine7045]

Yeah you really have to know about spice if you're gonna get into the heavier stuff. It took me years to get to where I am now with spice tolerance, and I found out a number of times along the way that it is indeed a process. There were plenty of moments where I tried something I thought I could handle, only to find out that I couldn't. You have to know what you're messing with. And it's not like the crazier stuff isn't spicy anymore. It's still very very spicy, I can just tolerate it.

And yeah, most people do ignore the warnings with challenges like the One Chip, but that's not on the company. Because they're clear with their warnings.

The spot I mentioned that opened up near my place, there are levels of spice when it comes to their menu. The hottest level there, a waiver is required. And other spice levels that aren't as hot but still pack a serious punch, on the receipts it'll actually say "No Refunds". I assume that's because customers have come back saying that what they ordered was hotter than they thought.

Yup. Clear warnings in place, waivers, liability agreements, verbal consent. But still, somehow, it's always someone else's fault.

 

[Titillating 2.0]

I’m not a fan of spicy stuff personally, but this is just a whole other level of insane. I mean, just looking at a chip that’s black and laced with hardcore spices should be enough to cause someone to use their common sense but I guess we’re far past it at this point. Ah but in all honesty this is truly heartbreaking and I wish the family swift healing during this time of tragedy. I truly wish that these companies would also take a moment to think too, sadly so much stuff is happening in this world.

 

[Sunriseticklee]

There are several products not made for children that are out of reach of children.

It wouldn't be too difficult to simply do what is necessary to not sell any product not meant for children to children. Those who sell it to kids anyway are just as much of a problem as the companies marketing products in places where children are more likely to be influenced to access and purchase the products.

The company/ manufacturers/ and stores knew that this product was being sold to children. There was no real movement to refuse to sell them to kids. The assumption of liability cannot solely to placed on the child/ parent depending on the availability of the product when the child purchased it.

Is it sad? Yes. But these companies cannot so easily deny liability just based on the fact that it is marked for adult usage only. Just like several companies couldn't deny liability when big tobacco was doing all of its shenanigans before all the safeguards were put in place. Can kids still access tobacco products? Yep. But requirements and safeguards have been put in place to make it much more difficult.

Maybe the same is heading for these chips.

AND by the way, history is marked with several instances where public outcry demanded that alcohol be pulled from the shelves. Sometimes they were even successful.

 

[BlasterMaster]

Sigh...freaking idiots doing dare challenges until something goes horrifically wrong (which was only a matter of time).

 

[BlueLine7045]

Sigh...freaking idiots doing dare challenges until something goes horrifically wrong (which was only a matter of time).

Survival of the fittest.

 

[BlasterMaster]

Yup, it's freaking Charles Darwin's theory of evolution in ACTUAL MOTION!

Remind me to tell you about the time a guy built an actual rocket that he could go up in and prove that the world was FLAT!

Spoiler alert, he found out the world is NOT FLAT and he forgot to pack a working PARACHUTE! It did NOT END WELL FOR HIM!