Posted on 09/11/2023 12:26:37 PM PDT by Red Badger
A nightmare scenario for any family here:
A 14-year-old student from Worcester, Massachusetts, died on Friday, officials say, and his family says his death was caused by complications from eating an extremely spicy chip that's the subject of a viral challenge.
Harris Wolobah's mother confirmed to NBC10 Boston that the family believes the teenager died of complications from the One Chip Challenge, though the results of an autopsy were pending.
Here's the young man in question:
The "One Chip Challenge" was launched by the chip manufacturer Paqui. It comes wrapped in its own individual coffin-shaped container replete with warnings about just how spicy it really is.
Needless to say, the thing is spicy.
It's made with both reaper and scorpion peppers, two of the hottest peppers in the entire world. It will light your mouth up. Whether or not young Mr. Wolobah passed away from the chip is uncertain, though his tragic death lined up with his having consumed it. He first developed a stomach ache at school after eating it; then, it got serious:
He felt better after they went home, but at 4:30 p.m., when he was about to leave for basketball tryouts, his brother yelled that he'd passed out, she said. Harris was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Police are investigating the young man's death.
Ditto...people have been eating similar products for years, and although you may WISH you were dead; these products will not kill you. Skeptical, indeed.
I don’t deny that it can kill you (even water can), but we don’t know exactly what happened here.
I'm no doctor but it's HIGHLY unlikely that the chip killed the kid. A really bad reaction to spicy food might, at the worst, be vomit. You will get sweats, your nose will run and your tongue will burn but your risk of death from eating even REALLY spicy food is nearly non-existent unless you eat like a pound of it.
That being said, there are some effects that might make you want to die. For example, what goes in must come out and that can certainly be unpleasant. Also, gentlemen, if you need to urinate after handling extremely spicy food, make sure you wash your hands thoroughly BEFORE handling anything delicate.
He may have had an unknown allergy................
Reapers, Ghost, Scorpion, Nagas, Habanero and Serranos all in my garden as we speak. I grow them and then put them in tomatillo sauce and can them to chop up on my Mexican food. I have my doubts about the story.
The ultimate endorphin buzz.
And a three day waiting period.............
I do the same but with a fermented hot sauce. Yum!
First time I had burrito with real green chili at a Mexican restaurant I couldn't drink enough beer to cool it down. I can handle some hot, this stuff was HOT. An older women that worked there saw my distress and came over with a plate of flour tortillas. Eating that killed the heat.
She said the bread soaks up pepper oil from your mouth and cushions the landing in your stomach. Hence forth I eat bread if I bite off something to hot.
Yea, I use the same trick, hey hon, this is HOT, get me another 22 oz draft, and hurry!
Quite a few, no doubt. However, if it is foreseeable that a capsaicin dose in the amount in the chip may cause harm or death to even a small petcentage of ordinary people, the chip seller has legal liabity. Certain reactions to the substance that are idiosyncratic are not foreseeable and will not result in liability. So showing the chip is safe for almost everybody is not a winner for the defense. It would be a real tough case, dont get me wrong. So it all depends on the results of the forensics.
“make sure you wash your hands thoroughly “
I handled one of those very chips under discussion here, and, having worked as a cook many years ago, I knew enough to wash my hands very thoroughly. But three hours later when I idly rubed my right eye…guess what happened? I would say use a scrub brush like a surgeon. These chips are down right virulent!
But it allows the family to have someone to blame besides the fact their little cream puff took all of mommy's crack.
Yes, I am cynical.
I am also probably right.
Based on the young man’s appearance, I would bet dollars to very stale doughnuts that there will be a racial component added before this story becomes stale.
it worked for St. Trayvon.
I’ve heard bread too. I’d come to trying tortillas over regular bread.
I’ll take the calories in my case. Not doing that again, ever. Nothing hotter than a jalapeno
I eat jalapenos with fried chicken..................It’s a Southern thang....................
I had a very small chili when in Thailand. It was so hot that I swore off chilis for years. Exception: Hatch chilies from New Mexico because they are edible, enjoyable, and add to, and not detract from, a meal.
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