Holy BLT Batman, Bacon Shortage Looming

Could bacon, that all-time favorite breakfast meat, begin disappearing from store shelves?

One pork trade group says a world-wide pork shortage, including disappearing bacon stores, will happen.

"A world shortage of pork and bacon next year is now unavoidable," Britain's National Pig Association said in a press release. "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."

In the U.S., the widespread summer drought this year has devastated corn and other feed crops, leading pig farmers to slaughter thier herds early. That, in turn, has temporarily boosted pork supplies in the U.S., according to a Bloomberg News Report. But the record slaughter of pigs in the U.S. this year means farmers will have smaller herds next year and will bring fewer pork products to the market.

A spokeswoman for the National Pork Board, based in Clive, says bacon will still be in the stores, but consumers will pay more for an inferior product, according to Business Insider.

"If you define a shortage as a situation where product cannot be found or where buyers must wait in lines to buy a product, the answer is no," Cindy Cunningham, a spokeswoman for the Pork Board, told Life's Little Mysteries by email. "But the quantity of pork available to consumers in the U.S. and the rest of the world will decline in 2013, due to high feed costs and significant financial losses by producers."

In St. Clair Shores, the effects of the shortage can already be felt at Frank's Jefferson Prime Meats and Deli.

Owner Sam Rassam has already had to raise prices on bacon $.40 to $.50 a pound.

"It's very expensive .... everything that has to do with pork is up," said Rassam, who is also seeing an increase in beef prices.

Although prices are rising, he is finding customers are still coming to purchase to bacon.