Lawsuit filed against makers of "One Chip Challenge" after Massachusetts teen's death
WORCESTER - The family of a Massachusetts teenager who died after eating a spicy tortilla chip as part of a social media challenge last year have filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
Harris Wolobah, 14, died last September hours after eating the chip. His mother said she got a call from the school nurse at Doherty High School, saying her son had fainted after eating the chip his friend gave him. Harris later passed out again at home and was taken to the hospital, where he died.
An autopsy was performed and the results released in May concluded that Harris died of cardiopulmonary arrest "in the setting of recent ingestion of food substance with high capsaicin concentration." The medical examiner also found Harris had an enlarged heart and a congenital heart defect but attorney Douglas Sheff said they were so mild his parents never knew about it and it never came up during physicals. He said Harris was in good health and loved playing basketball, hoping to play in the NBA.
Accused of marketing the spicy chip to children
At a news conference on Thursday, Sheff accused Paqui, the company that made the chip, of marketing a chip that was so dangerous the National Capital Poison Center in Washington had to issue a warning about it. He said the amount of capsaicin in the chip was hundreds of times spicier than a jalapeno or even wasabi and that capsaicin is even used in bear spray.
Sheff also accused Paqui of encouraging children to post videos to social media of them eating the chip, "which subjected our children to being brainwashed into thinking that eating a chip was somehow cool." He said Paqui was clearly marketing to children with the graphics on the chip box, marketing the challenge and encouraging social media posts.
Sheff also read out headlines from around the country of children and adults getting sickened and even hospitalized from doing the one chip challenge.
"All throughout the country, kids were being poisoned by these chips," said Sheff.
Paqui is named in the lawsuit, along with its parent company, Hershey. Walgreens is also a defendant, as Sheff said the drugstore was selling the chip to children for only $10.
Family seeking justice
"Hershey cannot hide behind Paqui and Paqui cannot hide behind TikTok or any other social media platform," said Sheff.
Harris' parents were emotional during the news conference and did not talk. Sheff said they filed the lawsuit because they want to ensure this doesn't happen to anyone else again. Sheff declined to say if they were seeking monetary compensation, only commenting that the family wanted justice.
In a statement, Paqui said, "We were and remain deeply saddened by the death of Harris Wolobah and extend our condolences to his family and friends. Paqui's One Chip Challenge was intended for adults only, with clear and prominent labeling highlighting that the product was not for children or anyone sensitive to spicy foods or has underlying health conditions. We saw increased reports of teens and other individuals not heeding these warnings. As a result, while the product adhered to food safety standards, out of an abundance of caution, we worked with retailers to voluntarily remove the product from shelves in September 2023 and discontinued the One Chip Challenge."
Paqui is named in the lawsuit, along with Hershey and Walgreens, as Sheff said the drugstore was selling the chip to children.
"Walgreens sold the poisonous chip to children," said Sheff. "The defendants charged about $10 for each chip. Ten dollars for the chip that killed Harris. Ten dollars for his life."