LAKE MARY, Fla. - If you're a guest of Carnival Cruise Line and achin' for some bacon alongside your eggs and toast, you'd better plan ahead.
Carnival has temporarily moved to an every-other-day bacon schedule fleetwide, citing supply issues.
"We purchase thousands and thousands of pieces of bacon every week, and our suppliers -- the people that supply us and the cruise industry – are having some challenges sourcing bacon for our ships at the moment," said the cruise line’s brand ambassador John Heald in a Facebook video. "Every other day, the bacon is going to go on a ‘bacation.’"
Earlier this year, economists warned of a possible shortage of a variety of pork products, such as hot dogs and bacon.
There had been a shortage of hogs for over a year and the problems are connected to the pandemic. Several processing plants and farms shut down due to outbreaks. Other facilities that remained open had to deal with staffing issues, also related to the pandemic.
With supply chains already stressed, experts did not anticipate the problems to be fixed over the summer months as more and more people were expected to be reconnecting with friends and family over the grill.
On top of that, the demand has also caused prices for pork to go up, for individual consumers and for the wholesale market.
According to NationalHogFarmer, the retail pork price set a new record high in July. Using data from the Livestock Marketing Information Center, the site reports that July’s price was 1.2% above the prior month and 10.1% above last year.
For now, Carnival says the pork shortage only applies to bacon and the rationing is intended to be implemented for one week. Breakfast sausage and ham will still be available every day.
"This is not a cutback; this is just a genuine problem that we as a company have," Heald added.
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