It’s what we get for interacting with Big T I’m afraid.
Yeah, I see what you’re saying - he should have shot the pizza. Non-lethal weapons usually just make things worse.
Getting back to edibility of pepper spray…
Quite a few years back my dad made a batch of salsa that he wasn’t satisfied with, not enough heat to suit his taste. So he gave each jar a shot of pepper spray before sealing. It was damned hot, but edible.
This was standard-issue police pepper spray, he had just retired from the force earlier that year.
I’ll stick with the 8-slice pizza. I could never eat 10 slices. 
The point of this thread was lost when the food nazis began deciding how much a person could eat or how much a person should be allowed to eat. :smack:
Meanwhile, back in the real world -
Was pepper spray added to the pizza?
If there is evidence that it was -
Did the officer add pepper spray to the pizza?
Did the driver add pepper spray to the pizza?
Did an employee of the pizza shop add pepper spray to the pizza?
Why didn’t the driver notice the pepper spray?
Why didn’t the officer notice the pepper spray?
Why didn’t the 4 other dinners notice the pepper spray?
How high do you have to be so as not to notice that your pizza is causing your eyes to water, nose to run? Who can eat food when they’re coughing?
As a teenager…and even today as an adult…I have very irregular habits of caloric consumption. Yesterday, I hit an all-you-can-eat restaurant, and just bloomin’ demolished the place. Wiped them from the face of the earth, and left the manager weeping. To make up for it, I’ll be eating very little today and tomorrow.
Not healthy…but kinda fun!
1,200 calories is still more than half the daily reccomended amount (2,000). And yes, I know what it’s like to be a hungry teenager, (luckily one with a fast metabolism). But the idea that people are actually astonished that five people can split an entire pizza? THAT’S what really blows my mind.
(Or I guess as I get older, I find pizza more filling, so I don’t eat as much as I used to.)
OK, I’m just reporting in. I was able to find a pepper spray (Sabre Red maximum Strength, “The Runner”, 35 bursts, active ingredient: Oleoresin Capsicum) for $10 at the local sporting goods store. Wal-Mart doesn’t carry it.
The one in the picture says I would be fighting breast cancer if I bought that one, and I’m in favor of that, but another package in a more manly blue & green said it had 10 more sprays for the same price, so I bought the he-man version. Sorry, ladies.
The package says, “Not to be purchased or possessed by minors, felons, anyone addicted to narcotics or where prohibited by law,” so I guess I’m OK there.
No quantity is given, although it might be covered up by the store’s price sticker. The package says, unapologetically, “Making grown men cry since 1975!”
I am going to play this test as safe as I can. The weather forecast is for rain today, so I plan to put off the test until tomorrow afternoon, as I want to do it in the open.
My plan is to use the tiniest amount on some bread first, and see how much is detectable in the open by smell and if I’m not overwhelmed, by taste. If it is not overpowering, I might put a little on a slice of pizza I have in the fridge (I’ll warm it first) and keep it in a cardboard box for a few minutes to simulate what might have happened to the teens. For all we know, the smell might evaporate over time.
Film at 11. If I don’t post for a few days, send the ambulance.
The officers name is Juan Rivera. This is clearly gangland violence and probably retribution from MS13
Hey, I agree with you on the last two sentences. But 1200 calories, while a bit high, is not necessarily crazy for a single meal–at least not that crazy that you have to be a marathoner or high level athlete to partake in it without become obese. My main meal probably averages around 1000-1200 calories, with two to three smaller 300-ish calorie meals through the day.
But, anyway, this is kind of a silly side discussion. Main point is, five people sharing one pizza is not weird at all.
Yeah, it has nothing to do with the question at hand – did the officer spray the pizza with pepper spray?
2000 Calories is the recommended amount for many adult males. For teen boys, the amount might be as high as 5000 Calories per day. So for a teen boy, that 1200 Calories might represent a light meal, whereas for me, it would represent ALL of the Calories that I’m allowed to eat in a day. It’s absolutely essential to take age, sex, and activity level into account when you state what is and is not “the recommended amount”. What is appropriate for an active teen boy is not appropriate for a middle aged sedentary woman.
I’m amazed at the notion of picking up a pizza as a snack. It has to be made to order and baked, which is going to take at least 15 minutes and possibly longer, and someone has to go inside to pick it. On the other hand, grabbing burgers or tacos takes less time and can be done through a drive through. You pull up, order, and you have your food in a couple of minutes.
And I eagerly await the results of the pepper spray addition to various foods. I am still of the opinion that even a light spray of pepper spray would be detectable by most normal healthy people.
Bets, anyone?
If it’s anything like regular capsaicin extract (and by judging the videos of people who have done this), there’s no doubt to me that it would detectable even at low doses. And, if not, I can’t imagine how it would make you sick, unless there’s something in the propellant or the carrier that would be toxic, but, once again, judging by people who have done this, it doesn’t seem like there is.
I salute your interest in putting these claims to the test.
For the additional claims, can you collect some random neighborhood teens and buy a bunch of pizzas for them? All in the name of science, of course.
Well, a true test would be to find out the identical brand and style of pizza, and then the toppings on it. My husband likes jalapenos on his pizza, and I’m not sure that anyone would be able to detect a light spray of pepper spray on his. I usually eat pizza with a ground beef topping, and I bet that anyone would be able to detect pepper spray on that sort. I, of course, would be able to detect pepper spray if the pizza approaches my nose, but I’m not normal in this regard.
Anyway, I’m willing to bet one wooden nickel that you can tell whether or not a food has been peppersprayed, unless it’s a jalapeno pizza or something like that.
I’d be willing to bet even if you have a jalapeno pizza you’d notice a light spray. Jalapeños aren’t all that hot. It’s hard to find an apples-to-apples comparison, but it seems that police-grade pepper spray is listed at around 5 million Scoville units. Some sites indicate a 10% concentration of the active ingredient in the spray, so I don’t know if that Scoville number is before or after dilution, but given that the Scoville scale is linear, even at 500,000 Scoville units, that’s hotter than a standard habanero, getting into the sub-category of “super hot” peppers like the Red Savina habanero.
That’s pretty toasty.
Seconded. This is heroism above and beyond the call of Straight Dope duty. I hope it doesn’t hurt/burn/stink too badly. We, collectively, owe you a (unadulterated!) pizza!
Are you suggesting a double-blind experiment to test whether random teens can detect adulterated pizza, and whether they go ahead and eat it anyway?
Because I think science needs an answer to this.
Maybe the cop did too.
And I know offhand of at least 3 pizza places around here [Eastern CT, land of ECSU and UCONN Storrs and assorted other community colleges] that have as their largest size a 36 inch pie. Actually I very fondly remember when there was a Shakey’s Pizza in Rochester NY my Mom getting she, my brother and I a 36 inch pie to split back in the day as a treat for being hauled into Rochester for doctor or dentist appointments.
Not sure about out west, but here on the east coast there is a tradition for a ‘slice shop’ to have something always ready because they sell by the slice, by the pie or by the made to order pie. I can literally head into one and grab a whole pepperoni or plain cheese pie. [just had mrAru check the flier for the local one, plain, pepperoni, sausage and supreme<everything except little dead fish> are available all the time as slice or pie]
And many people may live 15 minutes from their favorite pizza place, and can call it in and start driving and pick it up fresh from the oven. We prefer Occam Pizza to the one in Canterbury, and it takes about 15 minutes or so to drive there. mmmmm pizza …maybe tomorrow.
I don’t think we have slice shops around here. I’m aware of the concept, because my father was a damyankee, but around here, you have to order your pizza and then they cook it to order, as far as I know. I’ve seen one chain of pizza shops with delivery vans that claim that the driver will stop and sell you a pie, either pepperoni or cheese. I guess that they sell enough of those pies to keep them hot and ready in the vans, but it’s such a cheap chain that I wouldn’t eat any pie from them.