The tortilla chip firm Paqui is pulling its viral product generally known as the “One Chip Problem” off cabinets nationwide in response to new fears about its security following the loss of life of a 14-year-old who handed away after consuming one of many chips earlier this month. Along with eradicating the chip from shops, Paqui is providing refunds to individuals who have already bought it “out of an abundance of warning,” the corporate states on its web site.
The problem, which has been making the rounds since 2016, includes consuming a single very spicy chip and, usually, filming a response video for social media. On TikTok, #onechipchallenge has 2 billion views. Although post-mortem outcomes are nonetheless pending, the household of Harris Wolobah, the teenager who died, wrote on a GoFundMe marketing campaign that they think his loss of life was brought on by “issues as a result of ‘one chip problem.’” Wolobah’s mom, Lois, instructed Boston’s NBC10 that Harris ate the chip and obtained a abdomen ache. He briefly started to really feel higher, however then handed out and was taken to a hospital, the place he was pronounced useless.
“In a world stuffed with ‘flamin’ scorching’ choices full of synthetic elements, Paqui dares to be totally different. We consider that actual warmth comes from actual peppers and shouldn’t be grown in a lab,” the corporate says on its web site. Paqui explains within the One Chip Problem’s FAQ that whereas the chip doesn’t have an “official Scoville ranking,” it’s made with Carolina Reaper (1.7 million Scoville models) and Naga Viper (1.4 million Scoville models) peppers. A habanero pepper, by comparability, is taken into account “further scorching” at 100,000 to 300,000 Scoville models.
Paqui up to date the One Chip Problem web page following the teenager’s loss of life with a big disclaimer that reads the product is “meant for adults solely, with clear and outstanding labeling highlighting the chip is just not for kids or anybody delicate to spicy meals or who has meals allergic reactions, is pregnant or has underlying well being circumstances.” It isn’t the primary time the One Chip Problem has stoked well being fears: Faculty districts in California and Massachusetts issued warnings when the problem went viral final 12 months.
Whereas it stays unclear if and the way the spicy chip contributed to Wolobah’s loss of life, extraordinarily spicy meals can have damaging well being results like vomiting, diarrhea, complications, and chest ache, particularly for individuals who don’t eat spicy meals usually. “Most individuals aren’t used to that stage of warmth and are going from zero to 100 once they do one thing just like the ‘One Chip Problem,’ the place you eat an especially spicy tortilla chip,” doctor Allan Capin defined in a March report from the Cleveland Clinic. “It’s like placing a bomb in your abdomen if you happen to’re not ready for it.”
Eater has reached out to Paqui for remark.