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If you’ve got a bottle of rooster sauce in your cabinet you’d better be careful to make it last because the southern California manufacturer of Sriracha hot sauce has been ordered not to ship any of its products to food distributors and wholesalers for at least 30 days.
In November the city of Irwindale sued the company, Huy Fong Foods, for releasing spicy and eye-burning odors into the air during pepper-grinding season. And now the California Department of Public Health has begun enforcing stricter guidelines that require the sauce be held for at least 30 days before being shipped.
See also: Forget About Sriracha, We’re Facing a Global Wine Shortage
It’s not clear whether or not the hold period is a new rule, but the company started complying as of this week. That means they won’t be able to restock their with suppliers until after the new year.
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Damon Chu, president of a wholesale Asian food supplier in California, told the Los Angeles Times that his company could lose up to $300,000 in sales because of the production delay. A manager of another food supplier told the paper that demand for the hot sauce usually increases during the winter months.
There’s good news though.
Huy Fong Foods told CBS Los Angeles that it doesn’t think there will be a shortage thanks to the number of bottles already on hand — not that that’s stopped anyone from talking about the impending #Srirachapocalypse
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