"One Chip Challenge" company Paqui is working to pull its spicy chip products off the shelves amid an investigation into the death of a 14-year-old Massachusetts boy who died last week after participating in the challenge.
Harris Wolobah died Friday in Worcester after eating the chip. Autopsy results are still pending on the cause of death.
Paqui announced its decision Thursday in a statement, prominently displayed at the top of its website.
"The chip is not for children or anyone sensitive to spicy foods or who has food allergies, is pregnant or has underlying health conditions," Paqui's statement began, stressing it's "for adults only."
"We have seen an increase in teens and other individuals not heeding these warnings," the statement read. "As a result, while the product continue to adhere to food safety standards, out of an abundance of caution, we are actively working with our retailers to remove the product from shelves."
Paqui is also offering refunds to those who purchased products.
The "One Chip Challenge" is a social media campaign that challenges the consumer to eat what is purported to be the world's spiciest chip, and then waiting as long as possible to eat or drink anything to soothe the aftereffects. The chip came in a container the shape of a coffin.
Wolobah, a sophomore at Doherty Memorial High School in Worcester, was rushed to a hospital and pronounced dead after developing a severe stomachache at school, his mother said. He supposedly was given the chip to eat by a classmate.
"When I went there, he was laying down and I said, 'What was the chip you ate?' And this is what he showed me," said his mother, Lois Wolobah, holding up her phone to show an image of Paqui's "One Chip Challenge."
Lois Wolobah took him home, where he started to feel better. But he later passed out before going to basketball tryouts, she told WBZ-TV.
"I hope, I pray to God that no parents will go through what I'm going through. I don't want to see anybody hurting the way I'm hurting," Lois Wolobah said. "I miss my son so much."
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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