Snack company behind 'One Chip Challenge' pulls its extra-hot tortilla chip from stores following the death of a 14-year-old

• A teenager died hours after eating an extra-hot tortilla chip in the 'One Chip Challenge.'
• Paqui, the chip company, has pulled the product from stores, saying it was marked as not-for-kids.
• The cause of the teen's death has not been officially determined.

A snack company has pulled an extra-spicy tortilla chip product from stores following the death of a teenager who took on its viral "One Chip Challenge."

The product, which is made by Texas-based company Paqui, consists of a single tortilla chip spiced with Naga viper and Carolina Reaper peppers, known as some of the hottest peppers available.

It comes packaged in a coffin-shaped box decorated with a skull.

Consumers were invited to see if they could handle the heat of the chip and post the results on social media. 

On Wednesday, a Massachusetts family said that their fourteen-year-old son, Harris Wolobah, died hours after taking on the "One Chip Challenge" last week, CBS News affiliate WBZ-TV reported.

His body is at the medical examiner's office, and the official cause of death is still being determined, according to WBZ-TV. But his family is blaming the company for his death, the outlet reported.

In a statement posted to its website on Thursday, Paqui said it was removing the chip from stores "out of an abundance of caution."

The company said the chip still adheres to food-safety standards and pointed to its labeling, which it said indicated it was for adults only, with warnings advising against those with allergies, health conditions, or pregnancies from eating it. 

"We have seen an increase in teens and other individuals not heeding these warnings," the statement added. 

The stark product-recall message on the website replaced marketing copy that was up on the page until September 5, which asked consumers: "How long can you last before you spiral out? (before you eat or drink anything for relief)." 

It was illustrated with an image of the grim reaper and a scale designating a person who waits an hour after eating the chip before consuming anything else as an "apex predator." 

A warning placed below, in a separate graphic, advised consumers to keep the chip out of the reach of children, along with other advice. 

Wolobah's parents, Amos and Lois, told WBZ-TV that their son had fainted after eating the chip at school, and after returning home he passed out a second time, and later died in the hospital.

Wolobah had no known allergies and was a healthy basketball player, they told the outlet. 

"I hope, I pray to God that no parents will go through what I'm going through," the boy's mother told WBZ-TV. "I miss my son so much." 

The "One Chip Challenge" has been around for several years and was reviewed by Insider's video team in 2016.

In 2022, a California high school reported three cases of students needing medical attention after taking on the challenge, Insider's Kieran Press-Reynolds reported at the time.

The challenge is hugely popular on social media, with the hashtag #onechipchallenge being marked as viewed more than two billion times on TikTok.

Paqui, its parent company Amplify Snacks, and The Hershey Company, which owns Amplify, did not immediately respond to Insider's out-of-hours requests for comment.

However, in a statement seen by The Washington Post, a Hershey spokesperson said officials at the company "are deeply saddened by the news report and express our condolences to the family."