Food & Beverage

Now It’s Getting Serious: 2017 Could See a Bacon Shortage

Lucy Bayly
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Five month old-pigs, nearing their desired market weight, stand in a weaning-to-market barn at Lehmann Brothers Farms LLC in Strawn, Illinois.
Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Call it the first sign of the aporkalypse: The nation is facing a bacon shortage, with stocks of the salty strips at their lowest since 1957 due to a surge in demand (bacon ice cream, anyone?).

Recent data from the USDA shows that 2016 inventory for frozen pork belly, which puts the B in your BLT, is down 35.6 million pounds from 2015 levels.

@mlukaszewski: You think people on social media flip out about politics? We might have a bacon shortage. Just wait…

For now, the nation's pork farmers are doing their best to meet the heightened demand, said Rich Deaton, President of the Ohio Pork Council, which is championing bacon's cause to make America's breakfast tables great again.

"Rest assured. The pork industry will not run out of supply. Ohio farmers will continue to work hard to ensure consumers receive the products they crave," Deaton said.

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But in the meantime, the bacon shortage has led to a spike in prices, with January already seeing a hike of 20 percent for pork belly.

The threat of porky privation does not go unnoticed on social media, where #baconshortage2017 started to trend Wednesday morning.

@Joseph_La_Rue: Okay people. Forget politics. This is SERIOUS! We may have a #bacon shortage! cc'ing the Tweeter of #DOOM & #PANIC

@Nirikins: Hey, Twitter, when are we taking to the streets to do something about this bacon shortage????