Notice to hot sauce lovers: a shortage of peppers is forcing the company that makes sriracha sauce to put its production on hold for the summer, which could lead to a depletion of stocks of the famous condiment in grocery stores.
Huy Fong Foods, which makes the iconic sriracha, sambal oelek and garlic chili sauces, has to suspend production and sales due to a ‘severe’ shortage of chili peppers, reports the British daily The Guardian.
The Asian hot sauces department could thus be empty for a few months, warns the company.
“Unfortunately, we can confirm that there is an unprecedented shortage of our products,” she said. “[Cette situation] is beyond our control and without this essential ingredient we cannot manufacture any of our products.”
AFP
Huy Fong Foods places the blame squarely on the climatic conditions affecting California, New Mexico and Mexico, where it sources its chili peppers. California’s historic drought and high temperatures would also affect crop quality, the company says.
“We are still working to resolve this issue which was caused by several spiraling events including the unexpected loss of the spring chili crop. We look forward to a successful fall season and thank our customers for their patience and continued support during this difficult time,” Huy Fong Foods wrote in an email to customers.
Faced with the news, reactions on Twitter rocketed, with one user even claiming that it was the “first sign of the apocalypse”.
Others have already started stocking sauce bottles. “This is what fear of a sriracha shortage looks like,” tweeted one fan.
“I am immediately going to the grocery store to stock up on sriracha after this tweet,” another user posted.