Bacon shortage

Posted at: 09/25/2012 6:34 AM | Updated at: 09/25/2012 6:11 PM
By: Ray Levato | WHEC.com

It might be harder to “pig out” next year as fear of a possible shortage of pork and bacon grows. Last summer’s drought decreased the corn and soybean harvest and increased the fears that animal feed will become too expensive for farmers.  So pig producers are sending their hogs to market now. That may lower pork prices in the short term, but lead to a shortage next year.

Politicians are often talking about “bringing home the bacon” for their districts, but that may be hard to do if no one’s making bacon.

Popular Jim’s Restaurant knows bacon.

Stavros, Jim’s Restaurant, said, “Oh year, very popular. Bacon’s the best.”

They’ll go through 40 pounds of bacon on a typical weekend but Jim’s hopes to avoid raising prices too much, if bacon goes up.

Stavros said, “Most people order it well done I’ve noticed. I don’t know why. People like their bacon crispy. Some people order it soft. I think everybody likes bacon however it’s cooked. Bacon is bacon.”

Barb Glassman, restaurant customer, said, “I really am a health nut and bacon is one of the forbidden things that I will go out of my way to eat a little bit because of its flavor.”

The folks at Good Smoke BBQ in East Rochester know their pork. They’ve won all kinds of trophies and awards in competitions and they use a lot of bacon as well.

Joshua Brickman, Good Smoke BBQ, said, “If it does rise 15 to 20 cents, we’re just going to have to take the hit. We can’t raise menu prices at this time. We’ve been assured there won’t be a shortage. It’s just going to be a price increase.”

At Herrema’s Market in Irondequoit, longtime ad man Earl Repp sees an opportunity if the price of bacon goes up.

Earl Repp, Herrema’s Market, said, “Maybe this is an opportunity to try more exotic forms of cured pork products like prosciutto from Italy.”

Chocolate covered bacon at Sugar Mountain Bake Shoppe. One of their 170 different kinds of cupcakes is one tasting like a pancake, topped with a bacon butter cream and real chocolate dipped bacon.

Sean Kelly, Sugar Mountain Bake Shoppe, said, “You would never think those two would come together, but they work great together. Basically the cupcake tastes like you're eating pancakes with syrup and bacon.”

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