A corn tortilla chip made by Pacqui, a subsidiary of Hershey according to The Daily Mail, was sold in a coffin shaped box and contained ingredients including two of the hottest peppers, the Carolina Reaper (said to be the Worlds hottest pepper on the Scoville Scale, according to the Daily Mail) and the Naga Viper. It was sold on Amazon in the UK, US, Europe, Middle East and Africa and possibly other locations. Amazon said it would remove the product after a call from BBC Newsbeat about the death. The Pacqui company is removing the chips from shelves. They are also working with retailers to offer refunds. There was a One Chip Challenge for adults used in the marketing of the chip and shown on its box.
A 14 yr old American boy, Harris Wolobah might have died as a result of eating the chip. At least one article said the boy was given the chip by a classmate and got a severe stomach ache while at school. It went on to say he was picked up and taken home by his mother. This could mean the boy never saw the box the chip came in which does contain warnings about the chip. There are multiple photos of the box and warnings posted online.
Harris was found unresponsive and not breathing in Worcester, Mass. His death is being investigated by the state's ME.
In 2018, A 34 yr old man went to the ER days after eating a Carolina pepper. He had taken part in a chili pepper eating contest. He started dry heaving before developing a pain in the neck that then developed into what was thought to be thunderclap headaches, sudden severe episodes of excruciating head pain that peak in minutes. The details of his ordeal were published in The British Medical Journal Case Reports. A synopsis of the case appeared in The Guardian. He had been complaining of severe head pain while in the ER in New York. CT and MRIs showed nothing out of the ordinary. Some of the arteries in the brain had narrowed and he received the same diagnosis as I have here in the info from my other source. The medical team said that it's likely the Carolina Reaper pepper is the cause. Another report about it report in Newsweek said that the man's brain scans showed constricted arteries, technically acute cerebellar infarct and reversible cerebrovascular vasoconstriction syndrome, but that these arteries returned to normal five weeks later. In 2020 there was a report of a 15 yr old boy who had a stroke two days after being hospitalized for headaches after eating one Carolina pepper. There is a medical journal report out about these incidents.
The Pacqui brand had a One Chip Challenge that told adult consumers to tag the company on social media after they try to eat the chip and see how long they could go before eating or drinking anything after eating it. There were videos on TikTok and YouTube showing some taking the challenge.
My information is a summary from multiple news sources.
Note that the challenge has been going on for seven years (2016) and there have been different chilis used over the years. I watched videos of Shaquille O'Neil (5 yrs ago) and Tony Hawk take them. Hawk's chip did have the Carolina Reaper and the Scorpion pepper. He took the challenge in 2022.
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