--- title: What Happens When You Inhale Sriracha Fumes description: A Sriracha factory in California is causing a stink, but is it really bad to breathe in chili fumes? canonical: https://time.com/99236/what-happens-when-you-inhale-sriracha-fumes/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-14T19:15:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:08:23.717Z article:section: Health og:title: What Happens When You Inhale Sriracha Fumes og:description: A Sriracha factory in California is causing a stink, but is it really bad to breathe in chili fumes? og:url: https://time.com/99236/what-happens-when-you-inhale-sriracha-fumes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What Happens When You Inhale Sriracha Fumes twitter:description: A Sriracha factory in California is causing a stink, but is it really bad to breathe in chili fumes? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # What Happens When You Inhale Sriracha Fumes > Sponsored content. 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There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=b12fe4c5-00d4-453b-b4bf-8fb7d6569f15&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin May 14, 2014 7:15 PM UTC by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin May 14, 2014 7:15 PM UTC ### Photos: An Inside Look at a Sriracha Factory  Jalapeno peppers, grown in nearby Ventura County, are crushed inside the Huy Fong Foods factory in Irwindale, Calif. Peter Bohler for TIME  Sriracha sauce is bottled on site and topped with distinctive bright green caps. Peter Bohler for TIME  Sriracha’s trademarked look includes clear bottles printed with white text. Peter Bohler for TIME  A forklift moves barrels of crushed chilies stores in the on-site warehouse. Peter Bohler for TIME  Crushed chilies are eventually mixed with sugar, salt, garlic and vinegar to make Sriracha. Peter Bohler for TIME  Sugar and powdered garlic are added to the mixture, which is ground again into Sriracha. Peter Bohler for TIME  Bottles of Sriracha being filled. When CEO and founder David Tran started making chili sauce in Vietnam, he and his family hand-filled bottles with spoons. Peter Bohler for TIME  Filled and capped bottles of Sriracha move along an assembly line on their way to be boxed and shipped. Peter Bohler for TIME  A machine boxes Sriracha bottles that will end up in restaurants and on grocery store shelves. Peter Bohler for TIME  A worker adds steel supports to a pallet of barrels. The supports allow Huy Fong Foods to stack chili-filled barrels five layers high. Peter Bohler for TIME The debacle over fumes from a Sriracha factory in Irwindale, Calif. continues, after the city council deemed the Huy Fong Foods factory a public nuisance earlier this year, and the factory owner recently [asking council members](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/14/us/sriracha-factory-irritates-some-california-noses-but-entices-politicians.html), “Why do you hate me?” A small, but vocal group of residents living near the factory have complained that the fumes from the chiles are unbearable. For three months out of the year (starting in August) the factory grinds its chilies and the smell is causing some people to cough and report irritation while breathing. To be clear, not everyone agrees this is as big of a nuisance as others. [Last month, TIME reported](http://time.com/12539/sriracha-factory-california-pictures/), factory owner David Tran said the concerns are exaggerated and the South Coast Air Quality Management District has said most of the complaints come from a small number of homes. After inspectors visited the site, they determined the factory was not in any violation of air quality rules and the agency has not issued any citations to the company. But putting aside the degree to which the fumes are an irritation to locals, we asked the question: What happens when you breathe in chili fumes? The part of peppers that give people trouble are chemicals called capsaicinoids or capsaicin, which are what make peppers spicy. They are irritating to the mucus membrane as well as skin, and they’re some of the same compounds used in pepper spray. Capsaicinoids can cause similar irritation when they’re airborne. “The fumes themselves emanating from Sriracha are not inherently dangerous,” says Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency medicine physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. “While it may cause cause your eyes to water and your throat to burn, the fumes ‎do not pose any danger or long-term health risks. It may be possible to experience localized reactions to the fumes, but the risk of full-blown allergic reactions leading to hives or anaphylaxis from such an exposure has not been commonly reported from inhaling pepper.” Interestingly, some research has shown that inhaling capsaicinoids activates local pain receptors in the brain and actually [releases good-feeling endorphins](http://abcnews.go.com/Health/capsaicin-ingredient-hot-peppers-offers-medical-benefits/story?id=15727011). So does that mean the fumes might make people…high? “‎It is unclear whether breathing the fumes of Sriracha or other peppers can lead to the same euphoric feelings produced as when you inhale them,” says Dr. Glatter. Other research has found that capsaicinoids have some anti-inflammatory effects, and even some potential to play a role in [energy and fat storage](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/22634197/). Just like some people can tolerate spicy food more than others, it’s possible that some people are more sensitive to the chili fumes from the factory than others. Currently, there are no fumes coming from the factory since it is not grinding the chilies, but the hoopla is not quieting down. As for whether it’s as burdensome as some residents say, the jury still stands. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/99236/what-happens-when-you-inhale-sriracha-fumes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/99236/what-happens-when-you-inhale-sriracha-fumes/"},"headline":"What Happens When You Inhale Sriracha Fumes","datePublished":"2014-05-14T19:15:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:08:23.717Z","description":"A Sriracha factory in California is causing a stink, but is it really bad to breathe in chili fumes?","url":"https://time.com/99236/what-happens-when-you-inhale-sriracha-fumes/","keywords":["Sriracha"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/99236/what-happens-when-you-inhale-sriracha-fumes/","name":"What Happens When You Inhale Sriracha Fumes"}}]}] ```