Sizzle hasn't left the price of bacon

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

In the United States, last November was the first month when the food index had declined since March, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The index for food purchased at home fell by 0.3 per cent for all items, except for – drum roll – bacon.

Yup. While hog prices fell across the board in North America, bacon prices actually increased by 1.4 per cent, according to Meatingplace.com. However, the bacon price rise was significantly less than for the previous two months, which recorded increases of 3.4 per cent and 3.5 per cent respectively. Lunch meat prices increased 0.8 per cent, chicken by half a per cent.    

Take away energy and food, which are both down, and everything else on the consumer price index increased by two per cent over the last year. That's the percentage of an index with the base of 100 being an average of prices from 1982 to 1984; the index is now at 287. Gasoline is down 24 per cent from a year ago; shelter costs are up 3.2 per cent. BP