The Paqui One Chip Challenge Has Landed High School Students in the Hospital

Spicy food is definitely not for everyone, but some people have made a sport out of testing the limits of their own test buds. Paqui Chips has even made an entire challenge around testing a person's ability to handle their spice, and everyone from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Joel Embiid has participated in the challenge. Now, though, some are suggesting that the challenge may not actually be safe.

The one-chip challenge is branded by Paqui as a challenge in which you have to eat a single chip that has been “made with the hottest peppers on the planet.” According to Paqui's website, the chip is made using the Carolina Reaper, which is known to be the hottest pepper in the world, as well as the scorpion pepper. The challenge involves not just eating the chip, but waiting as long as possible before washing it down with something else.

The challenge encourages participants to wait at least an hour before washing the chip down, although plenty of people fail to complete the challenge successfully. In fact, TikTok is filled with videos of people trying and failing the challenge. Even as the challenge has become more and more popular, though, there are those who are beginning to acknowledge how dangerous the challenge may actually be.

The Sacramento Bee is reporting that three students at Lodi High School participated in the one chip challenge, and it led them to be hospitalized.

“We have had a number of our Lodi High students take part in the ‘one chip challenge’ on the school campus, which entails eating a chip that has been covered in pepper and hot sauce that causes the individual to react and become ill," Chelsea Vongehr, the school’s spokeswoman said in a statement.

“We encourage our parents/guardians to speak with their children about the dangers of participating in this and other potentially harmful internet challenges," Chelsea continued.

Chelsea also said that the three students who were initially hospital as a result of the challenge have since returned to school.

In the aftermath of the hospitalizations, Paqui issued a formal response to the Bee. “The Paqui #OneChipChallenge is notoriously hot, as our branding implies, and the product should be handled with extreme care," the company's statement read.

“Our #OneChipChallenge includes a safety disclaimer that it should not be ingested by individuals who are sensitive to spicy foods, allergic to peppers, nightshades, or capsaicin, or who are minors, pregnant or have medical conditions."

Although Paqui has made it clear that the challenge may be unsafe, the smartest way to avoid serious health consequences is to avoid the challenge altogether. Some people come through the challenge without experiencing any severe health outcomes, but it's far from a guarantee, and it's not worth the risks it entails. You never know whether you'll be one of the people who winds up in the hospital.