The Breakfast Meat You Might Want To Ignore At Aldi, According To Some Customers

Though we live in divisive times, there are a few subjects on which we can all agree. Among them: Bacon is delicious. It matters not the source — pork, beef, turkey, even plants; all orbit around a satisfying salty-savory-sweet umami flavor that has helped make bacon a key player in the classic American breakfast. However, not all bacon is created equal. Our ranked list of grocery store bacon brands can help you avoid the worst, but there's another that customers have called out: Appleton Farms Sliced Bacon, which can be found at Aldi.

Appleton Farms is Aldi's private-label brand selling mainly pork products, including bacon, available in many different options, such as low-sodium and thick-cut. But customer response has been mixed: In a Reddit post, a user vented, "I have purchased some fatty bacon in my life, but never have I ever seen anything like what I just purchased. I am almost tempted to call this a scam because it is so ridiculous. Every single piece of 'bacon' was white fat with maybe a centimeter or less of actual meat (muscle tissue)."  

Another Redditor added, "I bought a pack a few days ago and threw the entire thing in the garbage as soon as I opened it lol 99% fat," while a third suggested that Aldi's pork products frequently smell like a "used gym rag." Despite these reactions, not everyone is pushing Appleton Farms bacon off their plates.

For every Aldi shopper discontented with Appleton Farms bacon, another seems to be in favor of it. On the same Reddit post, several Redditors gushed about Aldi's bacon. One wrote, "The Appleton Farms is more delicious than any other bacon I've eaten, regardless of price." 

The Aldi Reviewer blog also posted a positive review of the brand, noting, "It cooks easily, doesn't shrink as much on the skillet as some bacon does, and has a light, crisp taste." However, the author also noted that since writing the review, some readers have mentioned negative experiences with Appleton Farms' bacon, and suggested that a second review might be in order.

The Aldi Reviewer blog also addressed a rumor that the source for Appleton Farms products wasn't pigs, but rather meat cultivated in a laboratory. Several accounts on social media ran with the rumor, which alleged that Appleton Farms was developing lab-grown meat. However, more sober minds quickly grasped the fact that the posts were referencing Appleton Meats, a Canadian biotechnology meat company unrelated to the Appleton Farms brand. This bit of gossip became yet another thing that many believed about Aldi that turned out to be untrue, but one can wonder if — in this age of reputations made or broken by online chatter — it had some subliminal impact on the Appleton Farms brand. It remains to be seen, but in the meantime, Aldi's bacon appears to remain a favorite for some and a must-avoid for others.