In a heartbreaking incident, 14-year-old Harris Wolobah from Massachusetts lost his life last September after taking part in the Paqui One Chip Challenge. This challenge involves eating a single tortilla chip coated with the intensely hot Carolina Reaper and Naga Viper peppers.
Harris, who had a congenital heart defect, went into cardiopulmonary arrest due to the high level of capsaicin in the chip. Capsaicin is the compound that makes chili peppers spicy.
To give you an idea of the heat, the Carolina Reaper ranks just below pepper spray on the Scoville scale, and the Naga Viper isn’t far behind at about 1.2 million Scoville heat units—far hotter than a typical jalapeño pepper.
In response to this tragedy, Paqui decided to pull the product from store shelves. The company highlighted that the One Chip Challenge was designed for adults and clearly marked as unsuitable for children or anyone with health issues or sensitivity to spicy foods.
Even though the product met food safety standards, Paqui chose to discontinue it as a precaution and is offering refunds to anyone who bought the 2023 edition of the challenge.