More Food Shortages: Bacon, Hot Dogs In Possible Short Supply As Restrictions Ease

More food supply shortages could be on the way as pork is being added to the growing list of products that may be missing from store shelves in the coming months.

As the COVID crisis heated up in March 2020, the demand for meat increased, causing grocers to place limits on the quantities that consumers could purchase. Now analysts are predicting that a shortage of pork could send hot dog and bacon prices soaring if the products can be found in stores at all, Business Insider reported.

The news of the pork shortage comes as many states ease up on their COVID restrictions, dropping mask mandates and opening restaurants and bars across the country as the vaccine rolls out to more Americans.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that it has fully vaccinated over 72.6 million people, accounting for 21.9% of the public, as of Sunday. President Biden has said that he intends to vaccinate 200 million Americans within his first 100 days in office, up from his initial goal of vaccinating 100 million people.

As Americans get ready to gather for their summer celebrations, many may be missing a key grilling component this year – hot dogs – while many breakfast tables could be without bacon in the morning.

Anne-Marie Roerink, principal and founder of 210analytics, told the news outlet that even though most Americans will be able to get the COVID vaccine by July 4th “many consumers still feel more comfortable with outside dining and gatherings, so I suspect grilling out is going to be a very popular activity this summer.”

Isaac Olvera, a food and agriculture economist at ArrowStream, told Business Insider that the pork shortage "goes all the way back to the start of COVID."

Olvera continued, "The whole supply chain has really been squeezed, and unfortunately it does not look like this is going to be something that improves between here and early summer,” adding that the market for hogs dropped between 1.4% to 2.5% from March 1, 2020, to March 1, 2021.

Pork, however, is not the only product to take a hit during the pandemic. Instant coffee and toilet paper are also expected to experience supply disruption issues due to limited space on container ships.

Restaurants are also struggling to get their hands on single-serve packets of ketchup as they fill to-go orders and eliminate sharable condiments. And paper products, such as paper towels, tissues, diapers, and toilet paper, will likely cost consumers more as the makers of these products have said they will increase prices as the materials used to produce them have also increased.