Re:[CH] WARNING---Exploding Sauce (More!)(Long)
William Tran (wmtran@huyfong.com)
Tue, 18 Jan 2000 11:28:32 -0800
I sent this message on Saturday but it seems that this message did not
get sent properly. So this is a repost.
Hello Fellow Chile-Heads,
Let me introduce myself: My name is William and I work for Huy Fong
Foods, Inc., the manufacturer of Sriracha, Sambal Oelek, and Chili
Garlic sauces, which many of you list members enjoy. I have been
"lurking" on this list for quite a while (over a year or so) but have
had little time to reply. Recently, there has been discussion of our
Sambal and Sriracha sauces which I will address later or in another
e-mail.
My main reason to respond now is because of the recent news article
about our Sriracha sauce. Since this list is read by many of our good
customers, I feel that an explanation is necessary since we have NEVER
had any complaints or issues for the 19+ years we have been in
business. First off, the news article was published without consulting
us for the facts. All the information is based on a report made by the
Hawaii Department of Health. Secondly, the recall was initiated by our
company and was not an FDA mandated recall. There is only a select
batch that is affected by this problem. Although we BELIEVE that the
cause might be due to the garlic, even the FDA did not find the exact
source of the problem. Also, the excess gasses is in NO WAY related to
botulism or any other harmful bacteria. We are under Ph control and our
levels (3.9) do not allow the growth of the bacteria. If this was a
health issue, the FDA would have required us to formally recall the
product. Instead, this problem affects a few individuals who find that,
upon initially opening our product, some sauce will splatter. Since it
is a hot sauce, if any got into the consumer's eye, then it would be
much like pepper spray. This is the main reason for the recall. The
news media did not bother to investigate this issue further and
therefore created a panic amongst our customers because they did not
fully explain the situation.
Any customers with the affected bottles should contact me or my company
directly (626-286-8328) to get
this issue resolved. The batches that were affected have date codes of
H9TM, H9TA, H9TX, H9TW or H9TY,
which can be found on the neck of the bottle.
Please do not jump to conclusions about the reason for recall or panic
because you have a bottle from the above-mentioned batch. We will try
our best to satisfy all of our customers as we have been for the past 19
years. Since this message is rather long, I will try to answer the
Sriracha and Sambal Oelek questions (from earlier postings) in a later
e-mail. I thank you for your time and look forward to all of your
continued business.
I will try to answer any questions or comments posted to this list or
e-mailed to me privately.
William Tran