Sriracha maker: Attempts to regulate my factory 'almost the same' as communism
SCOTT OLSON/Getty Images
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
You may have heard that Sriracha is facing some legal issues over its allegedly stinky factory, with city officials in Irwindale, California, suing the hot sauce maker and pressing it to mitigate its pungent emissions. The spat came to a head last month when the city declared the factory a public nuisance, and gave it three months to do something about the odor.
Yet David Tran, the company's founder, has insisted those complaints are off base. Speaking recently with NPR, Tran likened the municipal attempts to regulate his business to the sort of government overreach he saw three decades ago in communist Vietnam.
"Today, I feel almost the same," he said. "Even now, we live in [the] USA, and my feeling, the government, not a big difference."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.
