Hot Sauce Fans Despair: A Sriracha-less Summer is Coming

Sriracha lovers, start investigating alternatives to your favorite all-purpose chili hot sauce. Irwindale-based Huy Fong Inc., manufacturer of Sriracha and one of the biggest players in the Asian hot sauce market, has stopped production of its beloved tangy concoction due to a severe shortage of chili peppers.

“Unfortunately, we can confirm that there is an unprecedented shortage of our products,” the company said in a statement, ABC7 reports. “We are still endeavoring to resolve this issue that has been caused by several spiraling events, including unexpected crop failure from the spring chili harvest.”

The chilis have been in short supply since the beginning of the pandemic, and the condiment crisis has been rapidly worsening of late due to foul weather in one particular region of Mexico.

So secret is the exact origin of the spicy stuff, however, that Huy Fong executive operations officer Donna Lam declined to specify which area to the Los Angeles Times.

“It’s a crop thing and something that we can’t predict,” Lam told the paper. “It’s been happening since last year and this year is a lot worse, and that’s what put us back.”

In an April 19 letter to distributors, Huy Fong called the situation “out of control.”

And it will be a cruel summer, flavor fans, as the company has also informed distributors that it cannot fulfill any Sriracha orders placed before September.

Some L.A. area restaurants are already preparing for the coming Sriracha catastrophe, says the Times.

“We are indeed scrambling to figure things out as we speak,” Phuong Hoang, manager and co-owner of Pho Saigon Pearl restaurant, wrote in an email. “We didn’t want to panic and buy and hoard as we know other businesses need them too, but now that it’s made national news, we might need to.”

Already, there are signs of hoarding.

this is what fear looks like in a sriracha shortage pic.twitter.com/O6jP49Dptx

— q (@smallestpuppy) June 9, 2022

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