The popular Sriracha manufacturer is ceasing production. Here’s why.

Your food could be a lot more boring this summer as a major Sriracha producer warns it is halting production due to a shortage of the Thai chili sauce’s main ingredient, hot peppers.

Huy Fung Foods, which makes a popular Sriracha hot sauce, said it would stop producing the condiment by September because the red jalapeño peppers used to make it were “too green,” according to a company statement, which CBS MoneyWatch received. USA Today first reported the news.

“After reassessing our chili supply, we have determined that it is too green to proceed with production as it affects the color of the product,” Huy Fung Foods said in an April 30 letter to wholesale buyers.

“We regret to inform you that we have decided to suspend production until after Labor Day, when our next chili season begins,” the company added, noting that all customer orders as of May 6 have been canceled . Huy Fung Foods sells its products to retailers, restaurants and other businesses and not to consumers.

The company declined to comment on its production pause or its memo to buyers.

According to Stephanie Walker, a chili expert at New Mexico State University, a red jalapeño pepper that is too green usually indicates that it is not fully ripe or ripe.

“If too many peppers are green jalapeños, that means they are the unripe color of the red ones,” she told CBS MoneyWatch. “They haven’t reached the right maturity yet, so it could be a timing issue, perhaps because they were planted too late or unfavorable environmental conditions slowed ripening.”

It’s not the first time Sriracha accessories were threatened with Huy Fong Foods last year face production challenges related to crop failures.

The warning comes as more frequent and severe weather events increasingly impact food supplies. Although environmental conditions can affect jalapeño pepper production, Walker said temperatures in Mexico are not hot enough to affect chili pepper production.

Still, some experts blame a changing climate for poor chili pepper growing conditions that have limited the supply of Sriracha in recent years. Mexico is suffering from a drought, with the worst impacts being felt in northern Mexico, where most peppers are grown, according to a map from Mexico’s National Water Commission.

California farmer Craig Underwood, who formerly supplied Huy Fung Foods with peppers for its Sriracha sauce, said he once produced 100 million pounds of red jalapeño peppers for the company on 2,000 acres. The sauce’s distinctive flavor comes from the fact that its content is 90% fresh red jalapeños, he said.

“That’s why it’s such a good product,” Underwood told CBS MoneyWatch.

Underwood, who makes his own Sriracha, also said he has an ample supply of jalapeño peppers, but noted that he makes the sauce on a much smaller scale. He said using green peppers would give Sriracha a brownish color instead of the typical bright red hue.

New details are emerging after a series of resignations rocks the Miss USA organization

The decades-long search for a Texas mother’s murderer takes breathtaking turns

Bodycam video released showing the fatal shooting of a US airman by police in Florida