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Pulled from shelves: Paqui's "One Chip Challenge"

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2023 3:56 pm
by jfv
For those unfamiliar, it is a single tortilla chip, available for purchase, infused with a ridiculous dose of seasoning from two of the hottest chili peppers in the world:

https://paqui.com/onechipchallenge/

It is currently in the process of being pulled from store shelves because a teenager died after eating one of them:

https://apnews.com/article/massachusett ... 228f4b8465

I myself have done the "One Chip Challenge" several times, being someone who enjoys very spicy food. It's a ridiculously stupid thing to do for nearly all people, but the damn packaging has warnings all over it that kids and people with sensitivities to chili peppers should not eat it.

Apparently, in the teenager's case, him and his 12-year-old brother were allowed to purchase said chip without adult consent.

I have very mixed feelings about this.

Re: Pulled from shelves: Paqui's "One Chip Challenge"

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2023 3:58 pm
by Wood Goblin
Pull it. It killed a kid and has hospitalized a number of other people. No mixed feelings here.

Re: Pulled from shelves: Paqui's "One Chip Challenge"

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2023 4:25 pm
by penningtron
Yeah, dumb. (as someone who poured a generous amount of The (sorry, "Da") Bomb of Hot Ones fame on my lunch today) It's one thing if someone goes to the length to buy all the ingredients to construct something equally stupid, but this thing just encourages stupid dares and clearly there have been consequences.

Re: Pulled from shelves: Paqui's "One Chip Challenge"

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2023 4:33 pm
by rsmurphy
Is this a delicious chip imbued with flavors only dreamed of or is it only meant to cause trauma?

I don't even care for mildly spicy food as it just isn't pleasurable for me to digest, but if adults choose to get their ya-ya's out this way who am I or an entity to deprive them of it?

Voted restrict to adults.

Re: Pulled from shelves: Paqui's "One Chip Challenge"

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2023 7:11 pm
by jfv
rsmurphy wrote: Fri Sep 08, 2023 4:33 pm Is this a delicious chip imbued with flavors only dreamed of or is it only meant to cause trauma?

I don't even care for mildly spicy food as it just isn't pleasurable for me to digest, but if adults choose to get their ya-ya's out this way who am I or an entity to deprive them of it?

Voted restrict to adults.
For almost everyone, just trauma-inducing. It tastes like dry, bitter pain. A select few apparently get an adrenaline rush from it, though.

I guess sort of an analogy for me are the brewers that try to brew the strongest beer, like BrewDog’s Tactical Nuclear Penguin. It doesn’t even taste that good but it’s like 38% ABV. The difference is in its ubiquity; those Paqui chips are everywhere: grocery stores, gas stations, etc. for anyone to buy. Tactical Nuclear Penguin was almost impossible to get; if it were as easily available, alcohol poisoning, DUIs, and aftereffects would probably run rampant.

The undeletable part of my brain that I inherited from my Dad, that I can’t rid myself of, wants to leave it be and start handing out Darwin awards. But the saner part of me knows that’s not the right response.

My more rational thought is that its sale should be heavily restricted. But restricting its sale is counter to Paqui’s marketing strategy, who use it to sell more of their actually tasty, normal, not fatal tortilla chips.

So maybe they should just get rid of it and figure out a different marketing strategy.

Or maybe they should keep it as a marketing strategy but make it a super-exclusive item only available to their best customers.

Regardless, a teenager shouldn’t have easy access to it.

Voted for “restrict to specific stores”, probably then inherently less accessible to kids.

Re: Pulled from shelves: Paqui's "One Chip Challenge"

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2023 8:12 pm
by twelvepoint
I was at a hot sauce place in Charleston recently with my 9 year old son and he needed my permission to try samples. Is this not the case everywhere? Guess not.

Personally, I wish we’d care about kids this much with regard to firearms.


Related: I’ve been getting way more into spicy food this year. Not eat a Carolina Reaper hot, but like, riding a line where your taste buds are gonna get messed up for a bit.

Re: Pulled from shelves: Paqui's "One Chip Challenge"

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2023 8:35 pm
by ChudFusk
jfv wrote: Fri Sep 08, 2023 7:11 pm
rsmurphy wrote: Fri Sep 08, 2023 4:33 pm Is this a delicious chip imbued with flavors only dreamed of or is it only meant to cause trauma?

I don't even care for mildly spicy food as it just isn't pleasurable for me to digest, but if adults choose to get their ya-ya's out this way who am I or an entity to deprive them of it?

Voted restrict to adults.
For almost everyone, just trauma-inducing. It tastes like dry, bitter pain. A select few apparently get an adrenaline rush from it, though.

I guess sort of an analogy for me are the brewers that try to brew the strongest beer, like BrewDog’s Tactical Nuclear Penguin. It doesn’t even taste that good but it’s like 38% ABV. The difference is in its ubiquity; those Paqui chips are everywhere: grocery stores, gas stations, etc. for anyone to buy. Tactical Nuclear Penguin was almost impossible to get; if it were as easily available, alcohol poisoning, DUIs, and aftereffects would probably run rampant.

The undeletable part of my brain that I inherited from my Dad, that I can’t rid myself of, wants to leave it be and start handing out Darwin awards. But the saner part of me knows that’s not the right response.

My more rational thought is that its sale should be heavily restricted. But restricting its sale is counter to Paqui’s marketing strategy, who use it to sell more of their actually tasty, normal, not fatal tortilla chips.

So maybe they should just get rid of it and figure out a different marketing strategy.

Or maybe they should keep it as a marketing strategy but make it a super-exclusive item only available to their best customers.

Regardless, a teenager shouldn’t have easy access to it.

Voted for “restrict to specific stores”, probably then inherently less accessible to kids.
There are thousands of varieties of beverages in the average liquor store that are 38% or more ABV, so I don’t think that Penguin beer would cause any national emergencies if it were more accessible.

Regarding the hot chip, a pint of hard liquor could probably kill a young child too, but we don’t let kids buy it. So it does seem that this blazing crisp just needs to be carded for.

Re: Pulled from shelves: Paqui's "One Chip Challenge"

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2023 8:51 pm
by jfv
ChudFusk wrote: Fri Sep 08, 2023 8:35 pm There are thousands of varieties of beverages in the average liquor store that are 38% or more ABV, so I don’t think that Penguin beer would cause any national emergencies if it were more accessible.
If it were marketed like a regular beer, and cases of it were sitting right next to the watery domestic beers like Miller Lite, in the same quantity, I think there would be.

An example of an alcoholic beverage with unique marketing and characteristics, including elevated alcohol content, that caused quite a health controversy:

https://www.mashed.com/225664/the-untol ... four-loko/

Anyway, the idea of Tactical Nuclear Penguin becoming this ubiquitous is all theoretical and isn’t going to happen. A flawed analogy on my part. I digress.

Re: Pulled from shelves: Paqui's "One Chip Challenge"

Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2023 8:24 am
by Wood Goblin
The Paqui chip hasn’t just harmed kids. It has also sent adults to the hospital. I doubt that any governmental response will be necessary, since civil litigation will take care of it. But I don’t see how anyone could sell these in good conscience right now.

Re: Pulled from shelves: Paqui's "One Chip Challenge"

Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2023 12:34 pm
by Krev
There are cheaper alternatives to those ultra-high-ABV craft beers; they go by names like Steel Reserve and Hurricane and probably taste better.