IRWINDALE, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California city has
declared the factory that produces the popular Sriracha hot sauce a
public nuisance.
The Irwindale City Council’s action Wednesday
night gives the factory 90 days to make changes to stop the spicy odors
that prompted complaints from some residents last fall. Declaring a
public nuisance will allow city officials to enter the factory and make
changes if the odors persist after the deadline.
The decision came
despite testimony by air-quality experts that progress was being made
toward a resolution. The South Coast Air Quality Management District
said its inspectors have taken air samples inside the plant, and
believed the information gathered should allow the factory and the city
to resolve their differences.
Attorney John Tate, who represents
Sriracha maker Huy Fong Foods, Inc., said the company had been working
with the AQMD on its filtration system since the complaints first arose
and was committed to finding long-term solutions by June 1.
He called the public nuisance declaration a demonstration of "the city flexing its muscle and
thumbing Huy Fong in the eye."
A call to Irwindale City Attorney Fred Galante was not immediately returned.
Irwindale
sued Huy Fong Foods last October, asking a judge to halt production at
the company’s factory, saying residents downwind complained that fumes
from the grinding of red hot chili peppers was stinging their eyes and
giving them headaches and coughing fits.
In November a judge
ordered the company to stop producing the annoying odors, but by then
the annual pepper-grinding season, which runs from August through
October, had ended.
In the meantime, several residents complained
that the smell was persisting as Huy Fong Foods workers continued to
bottle the popular hot sauce that is a staple in Asian restaurants and
homes. Data provided by the AQMD showed the majority of complaints came
from four households.
Huy Fong Foods moved to Irwindale two years
ago, opening a new $40 million plant in the largely industrial city of
1,400 residents.
The company was founded by Vietnamese immigrant
David Tran, who began mixing up his distinctive sauce in a bucket at his
home in 1980. As business boomed, he opened a plant in Rosemead, moving
to Irwindale when his company outgrew that facility.
He said the
privately held company took in about $85 million last year, adding it
employs about 200 workers during the pepper-grinding season and 60
year-round.
The flaming hot sauce is contained in distinctive green-tipped bottles, each with a drawing of a rooster
on the side.
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