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The company posted a statement on its website that it had clearly stated the challenge was for adults only, but they would remove the product out of an "abundance of caution."
"The Paqui One Chip Challenge is intended for adults only, with clear and prominent labeling highlighting the chip is not for children or anyone sensitive to spicy foods or who has food allergies, is pregnant or has underlying health conditions," it read.
Harris Wolobah of Worcester, Massachusetts, died on Friday, Sept. 1 after coming home from Doherty Memorial High School complaining of a stomach ache after attempting the One Chip Challenge, a GoFundMe said.
Police and paramedics were called to his home on Rustic Drive around 4:30 p.m., where they found the boy unresponsive, Worcester police said. They rushed him to an area hospital, where doctors later pronounced him dead.
The chief medical examiner will perform an autopsy to determine the cause of death, but the family blames the viral challenge.
The "One Chip Challenge" sold for $10 and came in a coffin-shaped box with a fluorescent skull-and-crossbones on the front. Videos of people trying the challenge and struggling with the results are popular on social media.
The challenge is to eat the chip, which contains Carolina Reaper and Naga Viper peppers — some of the hottest in the world — and see how long you can go before taking a drink or eating something to quell the pain.
Carolina Reaper and Naga Viper peppers, respectively, clock in at more than 1.7 and 1.4 million Scoville units, which measures peppers' potency. For context, a jalapeno scores between 3,500 and 8,000 on that scale.
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