OMG! We're Running Out Of Bacon!

Could bacon, the greatest salted meat product of all time, begin disappearing from grocery store shelves?

One pork trade group says a world-wide pork shortage, including disappearing bacon stores, will happen.

"A world shortage of pork and bacon next year is now unavoidable," Britain's National Pig Association said in a press release. "New data shows the European Union pig herd is declining at a significant market, and this is a trend that is being mirrored around the world. Pig farmers have been plunged into loss by high pig-feed costs, caused by the global failure of maize and soya harvests."

In the U.S., the widespread summer drought this year has devastated corn and other feed crops, leading pig farmers to slaughter their herds early. That, in turn, has temporarily boosted pork supplies in the U.S., according to a Bloomberg News Report. But the record slaughter of pigs in the U.S. this year means farmers will have smaller herds next year and will bring fewer pork products to the market.

According to The Atlantic, the U.S. may be able to restock by buying from the Chinese government, who "maintains a strategic pork reserve."