Paqui, a Texas-based chip company, is asking stores to stop selling its viral Paqui “One Chip Challenge” product during an investigation into the death of a teenager in Massachusetts.
The teenager, 14-year-old Harris Wolobah, was a sophomore at Doherty Memorial High School in Worcester, Massachusetts, who died on September 1, 2023, after a classmate gave him the chip.
According to his family, he went to the school nurse’s office because he had a stomach ache after eating the chip, and then went home.
Later that day, before he left for basketball practice, his brother found him unconscious. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
His family blamed his death on the “One Chip Challenge,” a viral TikTok trend that challenges participants to eat a spicy chip and see how long they can go without eating any other food or water.
The chips are made with two of the spiciest peppers in the world, the Carolina Reaper Pepper and the Scorpion Pepper.
Paqui said the product “continues to adhere to food safety standards,” but “out of an abundance of caution, we are actively working with our retailers to remove the product from shelves.”
Paqui is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and is also a subsidiary of The Hershey Company. The company recalled the 2023 “One Chip Challenge” product in Canada after reports of adverse reactions.
Source: Paqui ‘One Chip Challenge’ pulled from shelves following teen’s death
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