Paqui ‘One Chip Challenge’ Is Being Pulled From Shelves

The tortilla chip firm that challenged customers to eat a single chip made with two of the most popular peppers on the planet is pulling the product from retail cabinets, the corporate stated on Thursday. The transfer adopted the dying of a youngster whose household stated he had died after consuming the chip.

“The Paqui One Chip Challenge is intended for adults only, with clear and prominent labeling highlighting the chip is not for children” or different delicate teams, the corporate, a subsidiary of the Hershey Company, stated in a press release on its web site. “We have seen an increase in teens and other individuals not heeding these warnings.”

As a end result, the corporate stated, it was working with retailers to take away the product from cabinets “out of an abundance of caution.”

Paqui additionally stated it will supply refunds for the product, which was priced at about $9.99 for a single serving. Paqui chips are made by Amplify Snack Brands, which Hershey purchased for about $1.6 billion in 2017.

The label on the coffin-shaped field dared clients to attend so long as doable earlier than consuming or consuming something after consuming the chip, after which to put up their reactions on social media. This 12 months’s problem produced many movies exhibiting folks begging for water or milk or shoveling ice cream into their mouths after consuming the chip.

The chip concerned within the problem was made with the Carolina Reaper, which has been measured at greater than two million Scoville warmth items, the dimensions used to measure how sizzling peppers are, and the Naga Viper, which has been measured at slightly below 1.4 million Scoville items. Jalapeño peppers are usually rated at between 2,000 and eight,000 items.

The chip was one of many final issues Harris Wolobah, 14, ate earlier than he died, his household stated. Lois Wolobah, his mom, stated her son’s college in Worcester, Mass., known as final Friday to inform her that he was sick. When she arrived on the college, Harris was doubled over with abdomen pains. About two hours later, he was rushed to a hospital, the place he later died.

The reason behind his dying was not instantly clear, however Ms. Wolobah informed The New York Times that she believed the chip had one thing to do along with his dying. A spokesman for the Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner stated it will take as much as 12 weeks earlier than post-mortem outcomes have been accessible.

“I just want there to be an awareness for parents to know that it’s not safe,” Ms. Wolobah stated in an interview this week.

Several individuals who tried the chip informed The Times that they skilled painful abdomen aches after consuming the chip.

A spokeswoman for Paqui, Kim Metcalfe, stated that the corporate was “deeply saddened” by Harris’s dying and “express our condolences to the family.”

“We care about all of our consumers and have made the decision to remove the product from shelves,” Ms. Metcalfe stated in a press release. “The product’s label clearly states it is not for children or anyone sensitive to spicy foods or who has food allergies, is pregnant or has underlying health conditions.”

Ms. Metcalfe emphasised that the elimination of the chip was not a “recall” however moderately a “voluntary retrieval.”

Until Tuesday, advertising and marketing supplies for the problem requested individuals, “How long can you last before you spiral out?” and gave particular rankings relying on how lengthy they may maintain off from consuming one thing for reduction. That language had been faraway from the location by Wednesday. By Thursday, all that remained on the problem’s web site was the corporate’s new assertion, the unique warning label and a shortened F.A.Q.

The warning label on the chip’s packaging suggested that the chip must be stored out of the attain of youngsters. People who’re pregnant, have medical circumstances, are delicate or allergic to spicy meals, peppers, nightshade vegetation or capsaicin, the compound in chili peppers that’s accountable for burning and irritation, must also keep away from the chip.

It was not instantly clear how most of the “One Chip Challenge” packages had been offered for the reason that newest taste was launched in August. A neighborhood CBS affiliate in Boston stated on Wednesday that it had discovered the chip at a grocery retailer about 10 minutes from Harris’s college.