An annual chili pepper festival kicked off in central China with a chili-eating contest. With doctors on hand just in case, ten contestants each held plates heaped with 50 Tabasco chili peppers, racing to be the first to finish off the red-hot fruits. The Tabasco pepper has a rank of 30,000-50,000 on the Scoville Heat Scale that measures the piquancy of chilis, which puts it somewhere between a jalapeno and a habanero. The festival lasts until the end of August, with a fresh chili-eating contest