LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Southern California factory town's attempt to shut down production of the popular Sriracha chili sauce is heading to court.
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge was expected to decide Thursday whether to grant the city of Irwindale's request to cease operations at the Huy Fong Foods factory until the company can reduce the pungent smell of pepper and garlic fumes emanating from the plant.
The sprawling factory processes some 100 million pounds of peppers a year into Sriracha and two other popular Asian food sauces. Sriracha's little plastic squeeze bottles with their distinctive green caps are ubiquitous in restaurants and home pantries around the world.
The peppers get washed, mixed with garlic and a few other ingredients and roasted during this time of the year, when jalapeno peppers are harvested in central California and trucked to the 2-year-old plant. The pungent smell of peppers and garlic fumes is sent through a carbon-based filtration system that dissipates them before they leave the building, but not nearly enough say residents.
They complained the odor give them headaches, burn their throat and make their eyes water.
Huy Fong executives said they were cooperating with the city to reduce the smell, but balked at the city's suggestion of putting in a new, $600,000 (€436,000) filtration system that may not be necessary.
The company said it was looking into other alternatives when the city sued.
Company founder David Tran said his privately held business took in about $85 million (€62 million) last year.