Increase in Hot Pepper Consumption Leads to Change in Americans
Four decades after Congress passed the FLooding our Education System with Hot Peppers for Our Tots (“FLESHPOT”) Act of 1983, which supplied the US public education system with reduced-price hot peppers rating a minimum of one million Scoville Heat Units to “spice up” breakfast and lunch school cafeteria offerings, health researchers found several significant and wide-spread changes in American students. When compared to students from other countries with similar school-based food programs, the Americans have some extraordinary new abilities. Capsaicin, the primary active ingredient, is an anti-fungal and has insecticidal properties. American students report a very small number of cases of skin infections caused by fungus (e.g., athlete’s foot, ringworm, or jock itch) and almost no detectable bites from insects. Also, the Hot Pepper Industry Association reported that younger employees do not need the same protective gear, such as respirators and goggles, that their older employees require. These younger employees, even those handling the peppers directly, are unaffected by concentrated capsaicinoids during harvesting and processing of the peppers. The Younger and Hotter Pepper Processors Union report its members have high levels of engagement with their employers, low healthcare costs, and command high salaries. Police departments have also reported that traditional riot control methods using pepper spray agents are no longer effective against younger Americans.