Southern California City Sues Sriracha-Maker

Looks like being the hometown to the now ubiquitous Sriracha hot sauce has its downsides. Irwindale, Calif., is apparently suing Huy Fong Foods, the parent company behind Sriracha, thanks to a "powerful, painful odor," reportedly emanating from the Sriracha factory.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the city of Irwindale is claiming that the odor has become a "public nuisance," so strong that one family had to move a birthday party indoors.

So far, 30 residents have filed a complaint, city attorney Fred Galante told the LA Times, as the factory ramps up production starting in the month of September and going until December. During those three months, the heavy spices used in the hot sauce create a strong, heavy fume that can be painful, the residents say. Galante says he hopes to halt production of Sriracha until officials find a way to fix the problem.

"If they fix it and the odor problems stop, we don't need this order; but so far the odor complaints continue," he said.

Meanwhile, Huy Fong Foods has yet to comment on the matter, although the suit reports that Irwindale officals and Huy Fond Foods were discussing methods to reduce the fumes. Later, however, Huy Fong officials denied the existence of the odor problems, claiming their employees who worked in similar conditions were fine.