As if times weren’t precarious enough, now the U.K.’s National Pig Association (“fighting for the growth and prosperity of the British pig industry” is their motto) warns that a global bacon shortage is now unavoidable.
The meat of the matter, as it were, is that European pig herds are declining at a “significant rate” due to high feed costs caused by drought and the global failure of corn and soy harvests. In the 12 months ending in June 2012 the number of little piggies in all main European pork producing countries have declined anywhere from 1.4 percent in Germany to a fat 13 percent in Italy, according to association statistics.
At a recent meeting of E.U. retailers in Brussels, British pig executive (yes, that is what he likes to be called) Mick Sloyan said that a 2 percent decline in slaughtering next year will cause the price of bacon at retail outlets to rise 10 percent.
U.S. pig farmers are not raising the bacon shortage cry yet, though farm research firm Sterling Marketing calculates that U.S. pig farmers were losing $30.88 per head due to rising feed prices. No matter how much you love a nice BLT, that can’t continue indefinitely.
More evidence that the bacon on our U.S. plates may become scarcer, or at least more expensive: The USDA reported in its regular cold storage reports thatstocks of pork bellies (the stuff that bacon is made of) were down 51 percent from August, and down 9 percent from last year. Curiously, overall frozen pork supplies are up 31 percent compared to last year. Where did all those pork bellies go then?
No mention of Canadian bacon anywhere, or whether it really is bacon at all.
