Say goodbye to bacon. Prices are going to rise sharply on this crispy, delicious treat:

A crispy rasher of bacon is becoming an increasingly costly indulgence in the US, where a surging appetite for pigmeat and cutbacks in farmers’ swine herds have pushed the price of pork cuts to an all-time high.

On the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the cost of pork bellies, which are used to produce bacon, has risen by more than 65% in the last 12 months and the wholesale price of pig product hit $1.35 per pound last week – its highest on record.

Analysts say farmers reducing pig herds during the recession, together with swine flu and high feed prices, took their toll. Meanwhile, demand is on the up as consumers trade down to bacon from more expensive meats, while seasonal use reaches a summer peak.

“The supply of slaughter hogs in the US is much lower than a year ago,” says Chip Whalen, a risk manager at Commodity & Ingredient Hedging, a consultancy in Chicago. “There’s a lot of additional usage of bacon – the BLT is very popular at this time of year and a lot of restaurants feature bacon on their menus in salads and sandwiches.”

The surging commodity price has found its way into US supermarkets. The Bureau of Labour Statistics reported last month that retail prices for sliced bacon reached a 30-year high of $4.04 per pound in US cities in June, an increase of 18 cents on the previous month.

Outrageous! If bacon hits $5 a pound we riot!