Has the bacon craze gone too far?
A new survey suggests the trend has peaked. When asked which food trend they want to be over by 2011, 49% of Americans felt the “bacon flavored everything” is past its prime.
It was the #1 food trend that people wanted to see less of in the coming year.
Maybe someone needs to tell J & D Foods “Everything Should Taste Like Bacon” – who is pumping out tons of bacon products. Their latest is bacon-flavored soda created in partnership with Jones Soda. Mike Spear, marketing director for Jones Soda told Food Business News:
“We felt it was our duty as leaders in the premium soda category to carbonate bacon’s salty goodness.”
Oh really? The company is promoting a special offer of two bottles of the soda, a bag of bacon popcorn, bacon gravy mix and bacon lip balm. Bacon lip balm?
Yes, people love bacon…and you can find bacon salt, baconnaise, bacon ranch dressing mix and even bacon-flavored envelopes on their site. But, come on, is bacon flavored infant formula for real?
The label of Bacon Baby touts “four nutritious servings of bacon in every scoop.” Yikes!
There’s a waiting list for the stuff. Bacon Baby is described as an “infant formula with complex bacon fats and nutrients that babies need for optimal brain development and wellness.”
Please J&D Foods, don’t pretend that you’re pediatric nutrition experts!
The bacon-craze is certainly a lot of fun, but if this is real — it certainly crosses the line in my opinion. I’m not amused.
What’s the craziest bacon item you’ve seen?
UPDATE:
I’ve since discovered that the bacon flavored infant formula was an April Fool’s joke, yet the product is still on the website for $19.99. Sounds like a lot of folks thought it was real and parents were interested in buying it! Please J & D, take it off your website so people aren’t continually confused. Here’s a blog post from the company’s founders Justin and Dave that appeared last April:
It is with great sadness that we inform you that the FDA has pulled the plug on our plans to launch Bacon Baby Infant Formula. While there is certainly compelling research out there that shows that increased bacon intake among infants could lead to increased intelligence, athleticism, and (perhaps) superpowers, they wouldn’t let us put it on the package, and were kind of jerks about it to be perfectly honest.
Thank you to all of you who wrote us to tell us why your babies should receive a lifetime supply of Bacon Baby. Your stories, ultrasound pictures and desires to “raise the next Einstein or at least Stalin” were quite entertaining to us. This was all in fun and it was good to see people laugh with us instead of at us for once.
We would, however, like to apologize to members of the media who thought this was a real story. This included parenting magazines, a major news service and one very embarrassed reporter who called us asking for a comment for a childhood obesity story she was working on for a major network. We will work hard to regain your trust – and then will likely destroy that trust again next April.
Yours in bacon,
Justin & Dave, Bacontrepreneurs
So bacontrepreneurs, the joke is over. Take the product off your website. Stick with the bacon salt — that actually sounds rather good!
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I thought your picture of bacon baby formula on facebook was a joke. That is truly horrifying.
It’s times like this that I wonder – what else can we do as dietitians? Are we not doing enough? Will Americans even want to hear what we have to say? Sorry to be a downer, but that is beyond frustrating when we are dedicating our lives & careers to teaching healthy changes.
Janet: This is an April Fool’s joke… See the link: http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Jones-Soda-Co-and-JDs-Foods-Bottle-Up-Bacon-NASDAQ-JSDA-1346904.htm
Specifically: About J&D’s Foods
Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, J&D’s Foods is the worldwide leader in delicious innovation. J&D’s manufactures Bacon Salt, Baconnaise, BaconPOP, Bacon Ranch, Bacon Gravy and Malt Salt. A leader in the specialty food industry, J&D’s is known for its combing unique flavors people know and love and innovative marketing tactics that include novelty products Bacon Lip Balm and Mmmvelopes, April Fool’s Day spoof-products BaconLube and Bacon Baby Formula and charity initiatives like Bacon Kevin Bacon.
Wayne,
This is an April Fool’s Joke? It’s December! Can’t find the joke in the press release you’ve attached.
I’m relieved it’s not really true, but it sure seems real on the website. Bacon may be the eighth wonder of the world, but I’m still not amused by the joke.
Certainly glad bacon-obsession parents can’t actually buy the the formula! I’m afraid some may want to though.
Thanks, Janet
It’s not a crazy new product, but I never understood the combination of bacon and sweets. Like bacon donuts. Or candied bacon. Bacon popcorn and gravy actually makes a lot more sense…at least you can pour the gravy over biscuits and it’s kind of like a traditional breakfast.
Phew – glad to hear it was a joke. My identity crisis is resolved, for now.
Janet: After reading about Jones’ Bacon-flavored soda, I thought twice about its legitimacy, until I did a little bit of digging. I said AFD joke only because that’s about the time J&D released it, mimicing some of the gift box jokes the Onion sells, except the Onion is far better at it!
Wayne,
The bacon-flavored soda is indeed real, but the infant formula seems to be a joke…although it’s on the website with the other bacon-flavored products and they never let anyone in on the “joke” after April Fool’s Day. It still looks available for sale.
Bacon should just be reserved for well… just bacon. It shouldn’t be in things like soda, gravy, air fresheners, or baby formula (even if it was just a joke).
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