Spam, A Lot Of It, Stolen to Feed Hawaii’s Black Market

EWA BEACH, HI — Hawaiians like Spam a lot, consuming more than five cans per person per year, and officials across the Pacific island chain are reporting that thieves in an organized retail crime network are stealing cartloads of the mealtime favorite, becoming more brazen as they feed the Spam black market. The latest in a spate of Spam heists, both attempted and successful, occurred Wednesday at a drug store in Ewa Beach, where three women are accused of trying to steal 18 cases of the canned ham product from a drug store.

Some stores, like the Ewa Beach Long’s Drugs on the island of Oahu, where the attempted theft took place, are now locking down their supplies and Spam is only available by request, like expensive liquors and luxury items. Thieves are also stealing designer clothing, electronics, power tools and canned corned beef, which is also popular in Hawaii, according to the Hawaii Retail Association.

The stolen Spam and other items are sold at swap meets and, sometimes, from the back of cars, according to media reports. (Sign up for breaking news alerts and free morning news alerts from Honolulu Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Watch: Spam, A Lot Of It, Stolen to Feed Hawaii’s Black Market

A Safeway store on Oahu also recently reported the theft of eight cases of Spam, and in Honolulu, police are offering a $1,000 reward for the capture of a man who punched a security guard and got away with a case of Spam, Tina Yamaki, president of the Retail Merchants of Hawaii, told The Washington Post.

“It’s organized retail crime,” Yamaki said of the huge Spam heists. “It’s not like ‘I’m going in to steal Spam to feed my family. I’m going in with a list of things I want to steal.’ ”

She told KITV the thieves are selling Spam on the black market, sometimes at swap meets, but also from the backs of cars.

“We’re seeing it more and more, and there’s a lot more volume being taken out of stores now,” she told the television station, noting that it’s a felony to steal $750 or more worth of Spam — or anything else.

Until a change in the law last year, the threshold for felony charges was $300, and smart criminals know they can steal larger amounts of Spam and face only minor charges, Yamaki told KHOU-TV.

“They know that, so they steal right under that $750 line,” she said, adding thieves are “getting a lot more brazen.”

“A lot of times when loss prevention is trying to apprehend them, they’re being attacked,” Yamaki said. “Either they’re getting punched or they’re seeing knives being used. I’ve heard of some guns a couple of times.”

Arlene Sua, who was shopping at the Safeway in Waimalu, told KHOU she saw the whole thing go down. The man breezed past her after grabbing the eight cases and walked out the door, she said.

“That’s when I thought, ‘OK, this isn’t real. No, he’s not going to take it, no, no,’ ” she said. “Next thing I knew once he passed the register, that’s when I heard the intercom call management to the front and it was really fast.”

Yamaki wants more people to respond as Kurt Fevella did when he saw the women with their cart full of 18 cases of Spam at the Long’s store. He was in the cereal aisle when he saw “a wagon full of Spam,” and staked out the exit.

“I didn’t say anything,” he told KITV. “I just stood by the door and the person that was trying to steal all the Spam just pushed the wagon and said, ‘Here!’ ”

Unless customers speak up and let store workers know about shoplifting, customers will end up paying more for their beloved Spam, Yamaki said. Depending on where in Hawaii Spam is bought, it costs about $2.50 for a 12-ounce can.

“It’s really unfortunate for the people of Hawaii because the prices go up, and it’s also unfortunate for the retailers as well,” she told KITV.

So, what’s the deal with Hawaiians’ love for Spam — a product they consume at a rate that surpasses any in the United States and one that many other Americans turn up their nose to and refuse to eat?

Hawaiians’ affinity for Spam, manufactured 4,000 miles away in Austin, Minnesota, dates back to World War II, when military rations often contained nonperishable canned meats. Spam, a portmanteau of “spiced ham,” is made of pork, water, salt, sugar, potato starch and sodium nitrate. It doesn’t have to be refrigerated or cooked to be safely eaten.

“This was a portable, convenient product that you could make many different ways for breakfast, lunch or dinner,” Nicole Behne, marketing director of legacy brands at Austin-based Hormel, told MinnPost.com.

Troops left Hawaii after World War II, but Spam didn’t, and resourceful Hawaiians have dreamed up hundreds of ways to prepare it, many of them featured in “Hawai’i Cooks With Spam.” It’s also popular in other parts of the Pacific.

“It’s easier to import shelf-stable meat than it is to import livestock, which could be destructive to Hawaiian conservation efforts — and you have to feed them,” Shayna Inzunza, a research analyst at Technomic, a research and consulting firm focused on food, told MinnPost.

Photo by David McNew/Getty Images News/Getty Images