False ALDI Bacon Rumors Have Been Debunked

Social media has been abuzz with claims that ALDI’s bacon isn’t what it seems. But let’s set the record straight. The rumors suggest that ALDI’s Appleton Farms bacon isn’t pork at all but rather grown from cells in a lab. Sounds bizarre, right? Well, that’s because it is.

ALDI, the popular grocery chain, clarified to The Associated Press that its Appleton Farms products, including bacon, “are not produced through cultivated lab practices.” So where did this confusion come from?

It turns out there’s another company out there with a similar name: Appleton Meats. This Canadian company, founded in 2017, is indeed exploring the realm of lab-grown meat. But ALDI has no affiliation with them whatsoever.

Social media users have been spreading misinformation, mistaking ALDI’s Appleton Farms brand for the lab-grown meat company. They even went as far as sharing images of ALDI’s bacon alongside claims that it’s grown in a lab.

But fear not, bacon lovers. ALDI’s bacon is the real deal, sourced from pigs, not petri dishes.

As for Appleton Meats, the cellular agriculture company’s goal is to produce lab-grown meat, but it is an entirely separate entity from ALDI. While there’s not much information available about the current status of Appleton Meats, its founder, Sid Deen, mentioned in 2019 that the company was in an initial research phase. At the time, he “anticipated that Appleton Meats would have a product to sell within three to five years.”

Lab-grown meat, also known as cultivated meat or cell-based meat, is an emerging field where meat is produced using cells from animals. Companies like Good Meat and Upside Foods have even received approval to sell lab-grown chicken in the U.S.

So next time you’re at ALDI, rest assured that your bacon is coming from the farm, not the lab. Don’t believe everything you read on social media — sometimes, the truth is simpler than you think.