“I work face to the chile for 34 years,” said Mr. Tran, 68, who emigrated from Vietnam in 1979 and started making Sriracha in 1980 in a tiny warehouse in downtown Los Angeles. Born in the year of the rooster in the Chinese zodiac, he stuck the bird on his bottle. “Why am I still here?” he said in an interview. “Maybe I should have died already.”

To local residents, the problem with the Sriracha factory is one of overwhelming odors. When the factory is grinding chiles in the fall, the scent of red jalapeños — so sweet once bottled — blows through town like a malevolent wind. Residents say that the chile-laced air burns their eyes and noses, causes coughing fits, and forces them to take cover indoors.

But the prospect that officials may force the closing of Huy Fong Foods, which produces about 20 million bottles of the sauce each year, has taken people by surprise. The 650,000-square-foot factory employs about 70 full-time workers and around 200 during chile season, when up to 40 truckloads of fresh peppers arrive each day from Ventura County, north of Los Angeles. The chiles are ground that same day, part of a round-the-clock operation.

“We never thought it should get this far, frankly,” said Fred Galante, the Irwindale city attorney. “Since September, they really have not done a thing about it. We just wanted to avoid having the same problem come up again this year when they start grinding chiles again in August.”

But this is an election year, and the matter has escalated, with politicians from other states descending on Irwindale to promise a more welcoming environment to Mr. Tran if he is willing to relocate. Republican candidates in California have also seized on the plight of the popular hot sauce.