Doritos Roulette: School warns parents not to give children crisps after pupil left struggling to breathe

The crisps are almost as hot as Scotch Bonnet peppers

Kashmira Gander
Friday 17 July 2015 02:32 EDT
Comments
A school has banned Dorritos Roulette after a girl suffered breathing difficulties
A school has banned Dorritos Roulette after a girl suffered breathing difficulties (Wikimedia Commons/Comida Chatarra)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A school has warned parents against giving their children a new, spicy flavour of Doritos crisps, after a girl understood to have an existing respiratory problem ate one and was allegedly left struggling to breathe.

The brand boasts on its website that most crisps in Roulette packs are cheese flavour, but some are coated with a flavouring that “may bring you to tears”.

The intense snacks measure 78,000 on the Scoville Heat Scale just short of the 100,000 which Scotch Bonnet pepper ratings start at.

The high level of spice in the crisps left a 14-year-old girl short of breath, according to The Sun, and has prompted staff at George Pindar School in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, to caution parents against giving then to children.

The school said in a statement that it placed a “cautionary note” in its newsletter “after an incident with a student where they had experienced some difficulty breathing after eating one.

“The student had a pre-existing respiratory condition which clearly made them sensitive to the ‘hot’ element of the Doritos chip.”

The school added that while only one child had been affected, “given that this particular chip is not recommended for young children we felt we should draw this to the attention of our parents/carers.”

A Doritos spokesman told The Independent: “We were sorry to hear about what happened. We do warn people to expect a seriously spicy experience with Doritos Roulette and we make this clear on the pack and in our adverts.

"The front of the pack states “Warning: Some of these chips are ultra spicy”, while we also say that Doritos Roulette are not recommended for young children”.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in