Tonnes of rotting food from vast LA warehouse fire creates unbearable stench

On any typical day, Alexis Sicairos and his girlfriend have a line of patrons waiting to order a banana buzz latte or a cloud matcha at their Los Angeles coffee stand. But now, the street corner where they sit is largely empty.

The reason is clear the second you walk into the neighbourhood: it stinks.

On 17 June, a fire destroyed a large cold-storage warehouse in the area, leaving behind some 85 million lb (39 million kg) of rotting food, including beef, pork, poultry and seafood.

Nearly two months later, residents of Boyle Heights say the clean-up has taken a lot longer than expected, and they've grown frustrated with the pungent odour hovering over the area.

"It smells really bad, like really bad ... to the point that you want to throw up," says Mesha, a 37-year-old security guard stationed outside a marijuana dispensary.

Lineage, the company that operated the warehouse, said that as of Monday about 80% of the food waste had been removed. But city officials said this week that the company's response "has fallen short", and that they have issued public health and safety violation notices.

"It's been tough," Sicairos, 30, says. After shutting down his coffee stand for two weeks because of the fire, Brew Sting has reopened - but the demand hasn't been the same.

He says flies have been swarming relentlessly over the past weeks, since the food that was stored in the warehouse began rotting.