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Bacon lovers can breathe a sigh of smoky relief.
No, a study didn't find bacon to be healthy. But America's favorite smoked meat is more affordable today.
A one-pound package of bacon is 25% cheaper now than a year ago, according to U.S. Agriculture Department data. That's over a dollar and a quarter in savings and puts bacon back on par with breakfast sausage prices.
Timing couldn't be better. America's bacon craze hasn't stopped.
In the past year, Americans ate 1.1 billion -- billion with a B -- servings of bacon at restaurants.
Eateries are happy to indulge people's bacon cravings, especially now that prices are falling. At casual dining restaurants, bacon sales are up 13% on the year, according to market research firm NPD Group and CREST food service.
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Adam Daily is saving much-needed money on bacon. He and his wife Eva run Bacon Bistro & Cafe in Hurst, Texas., a local favorite just outside Fort Worth. Daily says he is now saving $125 to $150 a week because bacon is cheaper.
"I certainly have noticed the prices come down a bit," says Daily, 41. "I definitely think customers are ordering more bacon."
Daily isn't lowering his bacon prices yet because the savings help offset an egg price jump. A bird flu virus is killing millions of chickens, raising egg prices. For breakfast locales, any bacon savings are needed to weather the egg price hike.
It's a reminder of how tough it is to manage menu costs. Bacon went through its own crisis a year ago. A swine flu virus last summer cut down the bacon supply, sending bacon prices soaring by 14% on the year last May. This year's plunge is the first time in two years that bacon prices have fallen.
The more affordable bacon prices this summer have a bit to do with sex. Pigs can give birth to several piglets at a time, quickly refilling America's pork supply. Other animals, like cows, can only reproduce one calf at a time, taking longer time for supply to match demand.
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The science plays directly into the prices on grocery store shelves. Beef prices are 13% higher now from a year ago, the twelfth consecutive month of double-digit price increases, according to the Labor Department. Cattle farmers are still trying to repopulate their herds after a multi-year drought in Texas.
Despite the price hikes and drops on different meats, some stores continue to see customers demanding, "Where's the beef -- and bacon?"
Singleton's General Store is a hit in Proctorsville, Vermont. Established in 1946, the store has a sign outside that reads "Cob Smoked Bacon, Guns and Ammo, Maple Syrup."
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Assistant manager Jessica Gould says the store sells 4,000 pounds of bacon during Vermont's ski season. Most days are a "non-stop battle" of loading and unloading the smoker.
"I have seen an increase in the sales of bacon, most definitely," says Gould, 28. "Bacon is always a demand at Singletons."
Customers often tell her, "We came just to get your bacon."