© 2024 KALW 91.7 FM Bay Area
KALW Public Media / 91.7 FM Bay Area
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Couldn’t find Sriracha at your market? There’s a shortage in the Bay Area.

Bottles of Sriracha sauce can be identified by the flaming red hue, in a clear plastic bottle with a green cap. The sauce is manufactured by Huy Fong Foods in Southern California.
Paul Narvaez
/
Flickr / Creative Commons
Bottles of Sriracha sauce can be identified by the flaming red hue, in a clear plastic bottle with a green cap. The sauce is manufactured by Huy Fong Foods in Southern California.

For those who don’t eat spicy food, Sriracha is this flaming red, vinegary, hot chili sauce in a clear plastic bottle with a green cap – it’s a staple in Vietnamese cuisine.

Manufacturer Huy Fong Foods in Southern California warned two years ago of a shortage in chili pepper inventory.But they now say that shortage will be even more severe.

Recent weather in Mexico has affected the quality of the chili peppers used to produce the signature sauce.

Huy Fong says that the shortage has stopped them from producing new batches of Sriracha and they won’t be able to resume before Labor Day.

A general manager from Asian market chain 99 Ranch’s Daly City store told KALW that customers will be notified through social media when new supplies arrive.

Sebastian Miño-Bucheli is a multimedia journalist and California Local News Fellow with Coastside News in Half Moon Bay. He's originally from the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, but he's been loving his past four years here in the Bay Area. Sebastian is an Ecuadorian-American who reports stories for the Latinx community.