Sit This Trend Out: One Chip Challenge Causes ER Visits

You'll want to skip this challenge. As expected, the 2022 Paqui #OneChipChallenge is off to a dangerous start.

Paqui, the Texas-based tortilla chip company, started running this challenge in 2016. Customers are encouraged to buy one extremely hot chip encased in a special package and eat it. Then, they see how long they can go without extinguishing their mouth with some milk or other food and drink. Or, in some cases, vomit, get an excruciating headache, or need to be taken to an emergency room.

You don’t need salsa to make these chips spicy. The One Chip Challenge uses the Carolina Reaper Pepper, which maxes out at 2.2 million Scoville heat units (a jalapeño measures a measly 5,000 Scoville heat units). It also contains Scorpion Pepper.

“AND IT TURNS YOUR TONGUE BLUE,” declares a video on the Paqui website.

Teens and adults alike have landed in hospitals because of this challenge. In September, three Tyler ISD students were taken to the hospital after eating a chip. Similar events have happened in New York, California and Georgia.

This is not the first year the chip has caused harmful reactions. A student at the International Leadership of Texas Keller-Saginaw High School in north Fort Worth lost consciousness in class because of the challenge in 2020.

The ingredients for the chip are also used in some pepper sprays and bear sprays. Capsaicin is the active ingredient in chili peppers that causes a spicy sensation in the mouth. Intense levels of capsaicin can be highly irritating to the digestive system and cause vomiting, chest pain, heart palpitations and even possible heart attacks, according to the National Capital Poison Center, which issued a statement on the challenge last year. Symptoms can be severe and last for days.

That’s exactly what happened to a local restaurateur, Meri Dahlke, who developed severe headaches after eating a chip. She wound up in the emergency room, and while her doctor could not definitively attribute her reaction to the chip, they said it's probable given that her reactions began after ingesting the chip. Others have also ended up in the hospital after eating the chip.

Interestingly, reviews on Amazon are mostly good, but only because the chip was, in fact, so hot it made most people sick. The only person to leave a one-star review also left a photo of an IV in their arm in a hospital room.

We contacted Paqui but did not receive a response.