where is appleton farms bacon made

Where is Appleton Farms Bacon Made? Tracing the Origins of This Popular Brand

Bacon is one of America’s most beloved breakfast foods. The salty, smoky flavor of sizzling bacon is hard to resist. Appleton Farms bacon is one of the most popular bacon brands on the market today. But where exactly is Appleton Farms bacon made?

In this article, we’ll trace the origins of Appleton Farms bacon and uncover where this tasty breakfast meat comes from.

The History of Appleton Farms

Appleton Farms has a long history in the pork business. The company was originally founded in 1932 by Arthur Appleton on a small farm in Ipswich, Massachusetts. For nearly 90 years, the Appleton family nurtured their small farm and built it into a thriving pork producer.

In the early days, Appleton Farms raised heritage breed pigs like Gloucestershire Old Spots, Tamworths, and Large Blacks. The goal was to produce premium quality pork using traditional farming methods. The animals were raised outdoors on pasture and feeds containing no animal byproducts, antibiotics or added growth hormones.

Over the decades, the Appleton family expanded their farm and started producing cured and smoked meats in addition to fresh pork. The Appleton Farms bacon, ham and sausage we know today was born during this time.

Appleton Farms Changes Ownership

In 2004, the Appleton family sold their business to a large pork producing company called Smithfield Foods.

Smithfield Foods is the largest pork company in the world. Headquartered in Smithfield, Virginia, they own over 500 farms and facilities across the United States.

After acquiring Appleton Farms, Smithfield continued producing Appleton’s signature cured meats like bacon, prosciutto and sausages. However, they made some changes to Appleton’s production methods.

Where is Appleton Farms Bacon Made Today?

Now that it’s owned by Smithfield Foods, Appleton Farms no longer raises their own pigs. Their bacon and other cured meats are mass produced at Smithfield’s large processing plants.

Appleton Farms bacon is made by Smithfield in:

• Smithfield, Virginia
• Tar Heel, North Carolina
• Sioux Falls, South Dakota

At these facilities, pigs are raised indoors in close confinement rather than outdoors on pasture. They’re fed grain-based feeds that contain animal byproducts. The use of antibiotics and added hormones is common.

Additionally, Appleton Farms bacon contains sodium nitrite. This is a preservative that stabilizes color and extends shelf life but may be linked to cancer.

When the Appleton family owned the company, their smoking process used natural hardwoods like apple and cherry wood. Now Appleton Farms bacon contains “natural smoke flavoring” rather than real wood smoke.

The Switch to Mass Production

For longtime fans of Appleton Farms, the changes under Smithfield’s ownership are disappointing. However, it allows Smithfield to produce Appleton Farms bacon in larger volumes at lower costs.

The transition from small-scale craft production to mass manufacturing is common in the food industry today. As small brands are acquired by large corporations, ingredients and techniques get standardized to cut costs.

While this may benefit companies’ bottom lines, some feel it compromises quality and integrity. The quest for efficiency and higher profits results in more intensive farming, processing and use of additives.

Shopper’s Guide to Bacon Brands

If you’re concerned about how your meat is raised, here are some bacon brands that still use traditional practices:

• Niman Ranch (humanely raised, antibiotic-free)
• Applegate Farms (organic, humanely raised)
• Wellshire Farms (no antibiotics, vegetarian fed)
• Beeler’s (pastured pigs, no hormones)
• Coleman Natural (no antibiotics or added nitrates/nitrites)

Of course, these small-scale producers charge premium prices for their bacon. Large brands like Appleton Farms, Oscar Mayer and Hormel sell bacon far cheaper because they follow a high-volume factory farming model.

As a shopper, you have to decide what’s most important to you – cost, or production methods that align with your values around animal welfare, environment, human health and support for small farmers.

There’s no right or wrong answer. But learning more about where your food comes from can help you make informed choices at the grocery store.

The Bottom Line – It’s Mass Produced

So where is Appleton Farms bacon made today? The short answer is that this popular brand is now mass-produced at Smithfield’s large pork plants across the country.

Gone are the days when Appleton Farms bacon came from a small family farm in Ipswich, Massachusetts. The bacon you buy under the Appleton Farms name is made through industrialized, low-cost methods.

Yet the Appleton Farms brand still conjures up images of a quaint New England farm. That appealing backstory is a powerful marketing advantage, even if reality is much different.

This tale illustrates how consolidation in the meat industry has fundamentally changed many iconic food brands. As small producers get acquired, manufacturing shifts from traditional techniques to accelerated mass production.

While efficiency rises, some see a corresponding decline in quality, sustainability and animal welfare. It’s a controversial trade-off – one that each shopper must grapple with in deciding what’s most important to them.