SFA recalls Huy Fong Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce due to concerns of bottles exploding

Singapore— On Friday (Dec 27) the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) recalled a certain batch of the popular condiment, Huy Fong Sriracha Hot Chilli Sauce, due to concerns that its bottles could explode.

Furthermore, the SFA also issued a warning for consumers to be careful in opening the chili sauce bottles.

According to the SFA, the food recall alert was issued by the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ). Because of a build-up of lactic acid within the bottles, they could bloat and continue to ferment. This “build-up of pressure in the bottles may cause them to explode upon opening.”

The statement added that since Singapore is one of the countries wherein the affected batch of Huy Fong Sriracha Hot Chilli Sauce was imported, the SFA has directed its importer, TC Import & Export Pte Ltd., to recall the bottles of hot sauce from that batch.

The SFA added, “Consumers who have purchased the affected product may contact their point of purchase for enquiries, and for a refund or exchange of product.”

Here are the details of the affected batch:

Best before: March 2021

Packing Size (bottles): 17 oz (482g) and 28 oz (793g)

Country of origin: United States of America

According to straitstimes.com, the food recall for the product has also been made in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

The product’s website says that its chili sauce is “our most popular sauce. Created from sun-ripened chilies into a smooth paste we have captured its flavor in a convenient squeeze bottle that is easy to use.”

The sauce has gained much popularity especially in recent years and is a staple in numerous Thai and Vietnamese restaurants.

The sauce, and the company behind it, Huy Fong Foods, Inc., was created by a man named David Tran who “began his chili making mastery in 1975 in Vietnam.”

In 1979, Mr Tran left Vietnam on a Taiwanese freighter registered in Panama, whose name was  Huey Fong, from where he later got his company’s name.

Mr Tran settled in the United States, and in 1980 began making sauces near Chinatown in Los Angeles, including “Pepper Sa-te Sauce, Sambal Oelek, Chili Garlic, Sambal Badjak, and Sriracha Hot Sauce.”

The company’s Sriracha sauce is sometimes known as “the rooster sauce,’” due to the rooster design on the bottle, adopted by Mr Tran as he was born in 1945, the Year of the Rooster in the Chinese zodiac. -/TISG

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