The Spices Must Flow - Sriracha Be Gone
So after back and forth with your typical NIMBY's and a company that is creating a bit of a hot pepper smell, it appears that
the makers of the popular Rooster sauce Sriracha will be forced to closed their doors.
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge Tuesday ordered a Sriracha hot sauce plant in Irwindale to partially shut down in response to smell complaints from nearby residents.
Judge Robert H. O'Brien
ruled in favor of the city and ordered sauce maker Huy Fong Foods to
cease any kind of operations that could be causing the odors and make
immediate changes that would help mitigate them.
The injunction does not order the company to stop operating entirely, or specify the types of actions that are required.
The city of Irwindale sued Huy Fong Foods on Oct. 21 after nearby residents complained of heartburn, inflamed asthma and even nosebleeds that they said were caused by the spicy odor coming from the hot sauce plant.
O'Brien acknowledged in his ruling that there was a "lack of credible
evidence" linking the stated health problems to the odor, but said that
the odor appears to be "extremely annoying, irritating and offensive to
the senses warranting consideration as a public nuisance."
He also wrote that the odor could be "reasonably inferred to be
emanating from the facility," and determined that the city is "likely to
prevail" in declaring the odor a public nuisance, according to the
ruling.
Irwindale officials applauded the judge's decision.
"We believe it's a strong ruling that acknowledges and is reflective
of the concerns that the community has raised about the health impacts
of the odor," said City Atty. Fred Galante.
Huy Fong officials did not return requests for comment Tuesday evening.
The ruling will take effect as soon as the judge signs the injunction, which Galante says will be filed as early as Wednesday.
Forget all the rushing to black Friday sales. It's pretty clear that everyone was rushing out to the walmarts trampling over bodies left and right in order to get the last of their precious hot sauce.
I mean, it's pretty clear that the Irwindale officials don't give a shit about all the jobs that this is going to cost. And right before Thanksgiving and Christmas. How kind of them, wouldn't you say? It seems that any factory is going to throw out a smell that isn't going to be all that pleasant. Irwindale needs to take the good with the bad.
Let's face the facts here. Irwindale isn't your Sunnyville U.S.A or anything. The place boast the attraction of a race track. Yeah, I imagine that the smell of all those high octane cars burning gas isn't going to be pretty either. What with all that carbon dioxide put out there. How about you shut down that? Anyone who decides to live in that industrial slum deserves all the smells that any factory around there is cranking out.
But hey, who can argue with their sound logic. Sure, they don't need any more jobs in Irwindale. They must enjoy being poor and unemployed. They just want the company to relocate and find a new area that would like the tax revenue that a huge company that makes hot sauce would bring in to the community.
It's comical because the owners just spent millions building their factory based on the approval of the city. I bet it's about time to sue the city for granting those permits for the factory when they really shouldn't have. They lured the company in with deferred payment schedules.
That's what really bothers me about this whole situation. It seems like Irwindale is just all happy that this happened. That jobs are lost and that they want to keep their tax revenue in the company, but want the bad element of the smell to just go away. As if a business owner is just going to do all the dirty work somewhere else and come here to bottle. Forget that, at best, you're going to see the plant go to another neighborhood that will be accepting of it and give it just enough tax breaks to make it worth not having to deal with anything related to Irwindale.
I'm not mad because I may lose out my breakfast sauce. Let's be real here, this is going to be made somewhere. Maybe not Irwindale, but the demand is there and this just puts it out there even more. Much like Twinkies. This stuff is going to be selling like hot cakes. The banned in Irwindale hot sauce.
Fuck them.
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