Free Republic

Weather conditions affecting the quality of chili peppers have forced California-based Huy Fong Foods to suspend sales and production of its famous sriracha sauce, the company has announced. In an April 19 email that only recently made its rounds in the media, Huy Fong Foods informed customers that they are facing “a more severe shortage of chili” compared to a similar situation in July 2020. As a result, all orders placed on or after April 19 will be scheduled after Labor Day (Sept. 6) in the order they were received. “Due to weather conditions affecting the quality of chili peppers,...

The Irwindale City Council decided Wednesday to drop a lawsuit against the Sriracha hot sauce factory and table a separate resolution declaring the factory a public nuisance. The city and the factory began warring late last year, when residents began to complain of a spicy odor that caused headaches, heartburn and watering eyes. The trial was scheduled to begin this November, and the public nuisance declaration would have eventually authorized city officials to enter the factory and make the changes themselves. But city officials said Huy Fong Foods Inc. had finally demonstrated a specific written commitment to solving the smell...

IRWINDALE>> Sriracha maker David Tran was succinct when it came to his requirements for any place where he might expand his popular hot sauce business. “(We) must have chilies,” Tran said at a news conference where he announced he was considering an expansion to the Lone Star State. Last week, a delegation of Texas politicians, who have actively courted Tran via social media and open letters, toured the Azusa Canyon Road factory. Texas is known as a pepper-growing region, however, Craig Underwood, who grows all of the jalapeños that are crushed into the iconic roster sauce, said it would take...

People love Sriracha hot sauce, but the CEO of Huy Fong Foods does not love California’s officials. He even compares the state to the the communist nation he fled decades ago. “Today, I feel almost the same,” David Tran told NPR on May 12, referring to when he fled communist Vietnam 35 years ago. “Even now, we live in [the] USA, and my feeling, the government, not a big difference." ...

David Tran fled communist Vietnam in December 1978 on the Huey Fong, a Panamanian freighter that carried Tran and more than 3,000 other refugees to freedom. According to a 2013 profile in the LA TImes, Tran and his family settled in Los Angeles, where he soon realized he couldn’t find work or a hot sauce that he liked. Tran began to make his own hot sauce and sold it in Chinatown. He named it after its place of origin (Si Racha, Thailand) and started a company in 1980, Huy Fong, which he named after the freighter that brought him to the United...

Let me state my bias up front. I like hot sauce. I like it on eggs. I like it in ramen. I like it on stir-fry dishes and Mexican food, and I don't think you can honestly call yourself a Californian if you're not a hot sauce lover. And so I went to Irwindale last week to investigate the Sriracha sauce standoff. As you may have heard, city officials are waging battle against the manufacturer, responding to citizen complaints that jalapeño-scented air blowing out of the hot sauce plant can irritate your throat and make your eyes water, especially during...