America's bacon reserves are at a perilous low

America running low on bacon.
(Image credit: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for New York Magazine)

America apparently has a bacon reserve, and it's running low. The Ohio Pork Council revealed in a report released Tuesday that the country's reserve supply of pork belly — the portion of the pig often used to make the breakfast wonder that is bacon — is at its lowest level in 50 years.

As of December 2016, America had a mere 17.8 million pounds of frozen pork belly stockpiled, which, per the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is the smallest inventory the nation has had on hand since 1957. "Today's pig farmers are setting historic records by producing more pigs than ever," said Rich Deaton, president of the nonprofit Ohio Pork Council. "Yet our reserves are depleting."

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