Days after a lawsuit by a California city put the future of the much-loved but hard-to-pronounce Sriracha chili sauce in jeopardy, the judge in the case has denied the plaintiff’s request to shut the plant down until it deals with odor issues.

As we mentioned the other day, the city of Irwindale, CA, had sued Huy Fong, the makers of Sriracha, after residents complained about unpleasant odors and burning eyes and noses believed to be the result of factory exhaust.

The lawsuit requested a temporary restraining order that would have shut the plant down with still about two weeks to go before it finished processing peppers for next year’s orders of Sriracha.

But the Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled this morning that the last-minute request is asking too much too late.

“You’re asking for a very radical order on a 24-hour notice,” he explained. “You probably should have come in earlier.”

But the Huy Fong issue is far from resolved, as the judge set a hearing for Nov. 22 about a temporary shutdown.

The company claims that outside inspectors could not detect odor any farther than 20 feet from the factory, and that Huy Fong has twice placed filters on that exhaust system.

Sriracha factory can stay open for now, judge rules [L.A. Times]

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