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Lawsuit Against Sriracha Hot Sauce Factory Dropped; City Tables Nuisance Resolution

Lawsuit Against Sriracha Hot Sauce Factory Dropped; City Tables Nuisance Resolution

By Frank Shyong, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — The Irwindale City Council has decided 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 issues. Mayor Mark Breceda, who toured the factory earlier this week, said the conflict should not have been so drawn out.

“We’re almost sorry that this has gone on so long,” Breceda said. “We’re looking forward to being partners for a very long time.”

The council voted unanimously Wednesday to table the resolution and decided in closed session to drop the lawsuit.

Huy Fong Foods Chief Executive David Tran was not present at the meeting but thanked his supporters in a statement to the Los Angeles Times.

“From now on, I will be concentrating on making my hot sauces quality better and better, with the price being lower and lower,” Tran said.

It wasn’t immediately clear why the city has relaxed its position. Tran has promised before to fix the issues, in writing and in person at council meetings through an attorney, but Irwindale officials still sought regulatory action.

The conflict has dragged on for nine months, drawing the attention of politicians around the country, who sought to lure the popular hot sauce manufacturer to their state.

John Tate, attorney for Huy Fong Foods, said the council’s decision Wednesday did not result from any legal settlement between attorneys.

“Management (of the city) met with the mayor, and they had a frank discussion which resulted in a willingness to work together,” Tate said.

City officials say they will visit the Sriracha plant again when it begins to grind peppers harvested in the fall. The plant is still functioning under a court injunction that bans harmful odor-causing activities, but it’s up to the city to go back to court to enforce that, Tate said.

The conflict seems to have ended without any official agreement about whether there ever was a harmful odor.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District did not find enough evidence of a harmful smell to justify issuing a violation, and air quality officials say about two-thirds of the complaints they received came from just four households.

The first complaints came from City Councilman Hector Ortiz’s son. In February, Huy Fong Foods began to offer daily tours through the factory and asked each participant if they experienced any harmful odors. None did.

But the city’s own smell study, by Santa Monica environmental consulting firm SWAPE using a different survey method, found harmful odor levels in multiple areas around the city.

City officials also mailed a survey to residents and about 40 percent of respondents said they could identify the smell, according to copies of the responses obtained by the Times. About 16 percent of respondents said the smell was harmful.

Tran said he had made some changes to the filtration system at the plant, and he promised in a letter to the council to fix whatever smell issues the city identifies.

“We are obviously happy with the decision the city made to drop the lawsuit and will continue to make a quality product for everyone to enjoy,” said Adam Holliday, director of operations for Huy Fong Foods. “We feel confident that the system we have is adequate and we believe that the troubles with the city are over.”

Photo via Flickr 

Sriracha Factory Hosts City Officials In Bid To Reconcile

Sriracha Factory Hosts City Officials In Bid To Reconcile

By Frank Shyong, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — Irwindale city officials toured the Sriracha hot sauce factory Tuesday morning in a possible sign of thawing relations between the city and the sauce company.

Sriracha maker Huy Fong Foods and Irwindale have been feuding in the courts and in headlines since Irwindale residents began to complain of a spicy odor last year. CEO David Tran has repeatedly asked city officials to visit the factory to no avail. But on Tuesday, City Manager John Davidson, Mayor Mark Breceda, and Councilman Julian Miranda donned hairnets and toured the factory with Tran as a dozen cameramen and reporters swarmed.

Both parties discussed a possible solution in a closed-door meeting afterward, but no specifics were offered. Two representatives from Gov. Jerry Brown’s office sat in on the meeting and tour, they said, as observers. No attorneys attended the meeting.

The meeting comes one day before a council meeting in which Irwindale officials are expected to decide whether to declare the hot sauce factory a public nuisance. The city has also sued the hot sauce company in Los Angeles Superior Court, and the trial is expected to begin in November.

As the conflict drags on into the ninth month, politicians from all over the United States have also rushed to associate themselves with Tran, whose personal narrative lends itself to pro-business and anti-government regulation agendas. Tran, who said he was willing to move the factory, has also been wooed by municipalities across the nation, especially in Texas.

But after Tuesday’s meeting, Breceda said, he expects that the city will drop both the lawsuit and the resolution declaring the hot sauce factory a public nuisance. He said the factory was “extremely clean” and even “beautiful,” and expressed remorse that the conflict had gone on so long.

“We’re looking forward to being partners for a long, long time,” Breceda said. “We’re almost sorry that this has gone on so long,”

Tran, who has in the past accused Irwindale of acting like a “local king,” echoed Breceda’s sentiments. “We understand each other, and we’re going to be working together,” Tran said.

Tran, Breceda and Davidson, in conversations after the meeting, even proposed that their families have dinner together.

It wasn’t immediately clear what prompted this improvement in their relationship, but Breceda said that Tran had finally offered, in writing, to fix the problems that the council saw. Although Tran had months ago written a letter to the city offering do as much, Breceda said that this time Tran had given specific dates and named specific measures.

“We just needed it in writing,” Breceda said.

The factory’s air filtration technology hasn’t changed much, but Tran said that’s because it can’t test odor-mitigation measures until the factory begins grinding peppers at the end of July. City officials plan to visit again once grinding season begins, Breceda said.

Aside from a brief shortage in January caused by new food safety regulations from state regulators, all of the attention seems to have worked out well for Sriracha hot sauce.

Since Tran threw open the doors of the factory for daily public tours in February, more than 600 people have taken part. The factory will experience another year of growth, and in the fall it will receive and grind more than 58,000 tons of peppers — 8,000 tons more than last year. The factory has grown to about 80 full-time employees, and Tran said the company expects to hire more than 200 seasonal employees when the pepper harvesting season begins.

But Tran also fears that he’s lost market share because he has been forced to reveal so much about his production process. In addition to museum exhibits, themed nights at major league baseball games and political speeches, Sriracha’s newfound popularity has also spawned imitators. Trader Joe’s has long offered its own version of Sriracha hot sauce, and Tabasco recently began selling its version in an online store.

The Irwindale City Council is expected to table a resolution declaring the smell of hot sauce production a public nuisance on Wednesday. It has delayed a final decision on that resolution several times since it was proposed in April.

Photo: Robin via Flickr