Chili sauce lands teens in hospital

BERLIN – Officials in Germany say eight teenagers were hospitalized after a test of courage in which they drank chili sauce more than 200 times hotter than normal. The Red Cross in the southern city of Augsburg says that 10 boys, aged 13 and 14, year drank the sauce Wednesday morning, apparently in school.

The German news agency DAPD quoted the Red Cross as saying the boys complained of feeling sick, and eight were taken to a hospital. They were to be kept in overnight for observation.

The Red Cross said that on the Scoville scale, which measures the hotness of sauce, the sauce measured 535,000 — compared to 2,500 for normal Tabasco sauce.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100120/ap_on_fe_st/eu_odd_germany_chili_casualties

It reminds of when my housekeeper died. She was in the habit if keeping things in unmarked tins. I had just made some rice and thought I would liven it up with a bit of curry powder. It looked a bit red to me but what the hell? It turned out to be chilli powder! My mouth was still burning three days later