Bacon Prices At All-Time High: Is A Shortage Or The Dreaded ‘Baconpocalypse’ On The Horizon?

Bacon-mania may be sweeping the food industry, but how much longer can that continue with the price of the popular pork product soaring? The Huffington Post reported the price of bacon is at an all-time high, statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate. In June, a pound of bacon rose 6 cents, upping the cost to $6.11 per pound in American cities.

While 6 cents won't break anyone's piggy bank, this recent price hike comes as the latest in a dramatic rise over the past two years. Bacon today costs 14 percent more than it did this time last year and 41 percent more than June 2012, when there was an impending “Baconpocalypse.”

In fact, the Huffington Post noted the price of bacon today is 21 percent higher than its peak price in 1982 after adjusting for inflation.

Less than two years ago the National Pig Association said a global bacon shortage was “unavoidable” because of shrinking pig herds. The British trade group said the effects of the shortage were “mirrored around the world” thanks to poor harvests globally.

“A world shortage of pork and bacon next year is now unavoidable,” the association said in a statement. “New data shows the European Union pig herd is declining at a significant rate, and this is a trend that is being mirrored around the world. Pig farmers have been plunged into loss by high pig-feed costs caused by the global failure of maize and soya harvests. All main European pig-producing countries report shrinking sow herds.”

The group said prices of bacon would double, which is close to the 41 percent increase predicted since 2012 when the association released its report.

And not much has changed since the grim outlook nearly two years ago. Pork prices across the board have jumped in the past year, an April report indicated, because of a virus killing millions of American piglets. Porcine epidemic diarrhea -- which causes severe dehydration, though not contagious to humans or other animals -- is said to have decreased the pig population and resulted in a 7 percent drop in U.S. pork production so far this year. Bacon comes from the belly of a pig.

And it’s not just in America. Bloomberg News reported the price of bacon in Canada shot up 9.3 percent month-over-month, or 20.5 percent year-over-year.

Demand for bacon over the years has gone up, making this possible shortage devastating to the food industry. “Bacon mania,” as it has been called in America and Canada, has reached an all-time high, CNN Money reported.

Square, a mobile payments company, reported last month bacon was the most popular topping in five major cities. The research also indicated customers are 145 percent more likely to choose bacon over sausage as a topping on food items and 38 percent more likely to want bacon instead of tomato.

Or as Maxim put it: “Bacon isn’t going anywhere.”