this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2023
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Paqui, the maker of extremely spicy tortilla chips marketed as the “One Chip Challenge,” is voluntarily pulling the product from shelves after a woman said her teenage son died of complications from consuming a single chip.

The chips were sold individually, and their seasoning included two of the hottest peppers in the world: the Carolina Reaper and the Naga Viper.

Each chip was packaged in a coffin-shaped container with a skull on the front.

Lois Wolobah told NBC Boston that her 14-year-old son, Harris Wolobah, ate the chip Friday, then went to the school nurse with a stomachache. Wolobah said Harris — a sophomore at Doherty Memorial High School in Worcester, Massachusetts — passed out at home that afternoon. He was pronounced dead at the hospital later that day, she said.

Until sales of the product were suspended, Paqui's marketing dared people to participate in the challenge by eating a chip, posting pictures of their tongues on social media after the chip turned it blue and then waiting as long as possible to relieve the burn with water or other food.

The challenge has existed in some form since 2016.

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[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 46 points 2 years ago (6 children)

The chips were sold individually, and their seasoning included two of the hottest peppers in the world: the Carolina Reaper and the Naga Viper.

Each chip was packaged in a coffin-shaped container with a skull on the front.

This is about the most wasteful product I've ever encountered. You wrap one chip in plastic to keep it fresh and then throw cardboard around it with tons of empty space and then ship those on trucks?! What the fuck.

I support killing this product on its environmental harm whether it's implicated in the teen's death or not.

[–] Asafum@feddit.nl 33 points 2 years ago (1 children)

One of my favorite bits from Futurama is when Fry is using some "make your own Oreo cookie" device that has individually wrapped cookies and individually wrapped cream, so he'd open each one, toss the plastic, smush them together just to take them apart like some people do with Oreos.

Hilarious and horrifying because you just know we have products like that today lol

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 years ago

Great reference. I remember that and it made me smile in horror.

[–] tomi000@lemmy.world 27 points 2 years ago (1 children)

On a 'plastic per calories' scale this is very wasteful indeed. But actually it is not just a chip, its more of an activity being sold. Other activities are much worse resource-wise. Some people go skydiving, others eat a chip at home.

[–] CoderKat@lemm.ee 5 points 2 years ago

Yeah, it's not actually a food. Nobody eats these for the taste or calories. It's purely for the experience of the challenge and the packaging is understandably part of that experience. It's still wasteful, but it's the kind of society we live in. Packaging works. If they could sell as well with less waste, I'm sure they would. The packaging is a calculated attempt at maximizing the experience, especially under the assumption that it's going to spread by viral videos.

[–] firadin@lemmy.world 18 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] victron@programming.dev 1 points 2 years ago

But hey, they have square watermelons!

[–] papertowels@lemmy.one 17 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Tbf I would assume there's not much volume being sold, considering it's definitely at most a serving being packaged. Afaik nobody is out there buying a handful of these to eat as a snack.

EDIT: based on the other comments, it seems like the average consumer buys at most one of these in their lifetime, haha.

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Yeah, this sounds like a case where if they packaged it like other chips, it would just mean instead of throwing out a small amount of plastic per chip eaten, you're throwing out a chip bag worth of plastic along with most of the other chips after you and maybe some friends take one.

It's like buying the bigger size that's slightly more expensive only to realize it would have been cheaper to buy the smaller one because the extra stuff got thrown out after it went bad plus there's extra packaging, even if the value per unit is worse.

[–] Malfeasant@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago

I try to explain this to my wife every time she buys the humongous restaurant-size jar of mayonnaise... "But it was buy 2 get one half off..."

I exaggerate, but only slightly.

[–] Puzzle_Sluts_4Ever@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago

Eh. It is no different than a lot of snack packages. Wrap each serving/couple servings in plastic and then put it in a bag or a box. It is egregious because it is a single chip. But that is one "serving" of the chip.

Of all the things wrong with these kinds of products, the packaging seems fine. Plastic for freshness, cardboard for durability.

That said, it very much brings to mind the futurama gag where the cookies and the creme are all individually wrapped to eat oreos. But this is not that.

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca -1 points 2 years ago

This was my first thought. This must be peak "we don't give a shit if our climate will kill us tomorrow"