The California company that popularized the condiment known for its distinctive fiery red color has halted production until after Labor Day.
Huy Fong Foods, which is based in Irwindale, sent a letter to its distributors blaming the four-month pause that could eventually snarl the sauce’s supply chain on the recent harvest of red jalapeño peppers.
A representative for Huy Fong declined to directly comment to The Times about the production halt Friday.
Huy Fong buys its peppers from several suppliers in Mexico, where dire drought conditions in recent years have hurt harvests and led to a water crisis so severe that taps ran dry in some towns.
Another big problem with Huy Fong’s supply chain began with a bitter legal battle with the company's longtime pepper grower.
Huy Fong sued the grower, which quickly filed a cross-complaint accusing the hot sauce empire of a breach of contract that the grower said had cost it more than $20 million in losses.
David Tran, a Vietnamese refugee who upon arriving in the U.S. couldn’t find a hot sauce he liked, decided to create his own, founding Huy Fong Foods in Chinatown in 1980.