If you happen to live in California, you might remember voting on this: In 2018, an “animal welfare proposition” passed and now bacon lovers in the Golden State are discovering that “only 4% of hog operations now comply with the new rules.”
The result?
Bacon is rapidly disappearing from grocery store shelves and the price is making it cost-prohibitive for many restaurants to purchase it for their diners.
As California loses most of its pork supply the results could be devastating for hog farmers in the rest of America, as well.
Animal welfare organizations for years have been pushing for more humane treatment of farm animals but the California rules could be a rare case of consumers clearly paying a price for their beliefs.
With little time left to build new facilities, inseminate sows and process the offspring by January, it’s hard to see how the pork industry can adequately supply California, which consumes roughly 15% of all pork produced in the country.
“We are very concerned about the potential supply impacts and therefore cost increases,” said Matt Sutton, the public policy director for the California Restaurant Association.
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