This Tuesday Oct. 29, 2013 photo shows the Huy Fong Foods factory for making of Sriracha chili sauce in Irwindale, Calif. The maker of Sriracha hot sauce is under fire for allegedly fouling the air around its Southern California production site. The city of Irwindale filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday Oct. 28, 2013 asking a judge to stop production at the Huy Fong Foods factory, claiming the chili odor emanating from the facility is a public nuisance. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
October 31, 2013 - 2:18 AM
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - 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 about 45 million kilograms 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 two-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 odour give them headaches, burn their throat and make their eyes water.
Huy Fong executives said they were co-operating with the city to reduce the smell, but balked at the city's suggestion of putting in a new, $600,000 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 last year.
News from © The Associated Press, 2013