Pacqui the manufacturer of the extremely spicy One Chip Challenge Chip has said it is pulling its chips off the shelves just to be safe after a 14-year-old boy died on Thursday after eating one.
On September 1st, 14-year-old Harris Wolobah died shortly after eating one of Pacqui’s spicy chips.
An autopsy of Wolobah is still pending but stores are taking the chip off the shelves in precaution.
On the chips’ packaging, it warns that children should not consume the chip and the chip is a “vengeful pleasure of intense heat and pain,”
Paqui is withdrawing the chip from sale ‘out of an abundance of caution’ pic.twitter.com/879KtEtgZF
— RT (@RT_com) September 8, 2023
Paqui 'One Chip Challenge' pulled from store shelves after Massachusetts teen dies pic.twitter.com/MQls65xJN4
— HARD FACTOR (@HardFactorNews) September 8, 2023
Here’s what NPR reported:
The maker of an extremely spicy tortilla chip said Thursday it is working to remove the product from stores as Massachusetts authorities investigate the death of a teen whose family pointed to the One Chip Challenge popularized as a dare on social media as a contributing factor.
The cause of Harris Wolobah’s death on Sept. 1 has yet to be determined and an autopsy is pending, but the 14-year-old’s family blamed the challenge.
Since his death, Texas-based manufacturer Paqui has asked retailers to stop selling the individually wrapped chips, a step 7-Eleven has already taken.
A vigil for the teen is planned for Friday evening at a park in Worcester in central Massachusetts.
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 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.”
Here are some people who filmed themselves doing the one chip challenge:
Y’all wanna see one of the worst, yet funniest reaction to eating the one spicy chip challenge??? 🤣🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/9ITTGMlQ8l
— Ðoge~Panda (@topherAlba26) September 5, 2023
#thursdayvibes this is definitely the best paqui one chip challenge face online Shaq the goat Hot ones pic.twitter.com/Hd05svQxgb
— TheGmGmGuy (@TheGmGmGuy) September 7, 2023
That One Chip Challenge ain’t no joke #onechip #Spicy #onechipchallenge pic.twitter.com/SJ3Y5HSYDH
— The WTF Guys (@TheWtfGuys) September 7, 2023
Per NBC News:
Paqui, the maker of extremely spicy tortilla chips marketed as the “One Chip Challenge,” is voluntarily pulling the product from shelves after a woman said her teenage son died of complications from consuming a single chip.
The chips were sold individually, and their seasoning included two of the hottest peppers in the world: the Carolina Reaper and the Naga Viper.
Each chip was packaged in a coffin-shaped container with a skull on the front.
Lois Wolobah told NBC Boston that her 14-year-old son, Harris Wolobah, ate the chip Friday, then went to the school nurse with a stomachache. Wolobah said Harris — a sophomore at Doherty Memorial High School in Worcester, Massachusetts — passed out at home that afternoon. He was pronounced dead at the hospital later that day, she said.
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