Local restaurants' rib reserves receding

Source: Ann Arbor News

If you drool at the sight of baby back ribs, your stomach - and wallet - won't be in hog heaven anytime soon.

Restaurants and butchers alike are seeing shortages and higher prices of the popular ribs. The reason: the U.S. government's recent ban on imported meat to stem the spread of foot-and-mouth disease.

The ban includes a prohibition on pork from Denmark, which supplies about half the baby back ribs consumed in this country.

"Supply and demand - it's how the market works," said Matt Parent, owner of Smoke House Blues, a restaurant on Washtenaw Avenue. "We're feeling the impact, even though we buy domestically."

With the supply from Europe cut, restaurants and grocers will be forced to buy American meat, driving up demand - and prices.

"Ribs are quite expensive now," said Vernon Bedolla, a meat cutter at Knight's Market in Ann Arbor.

Prices have gone up nearly $1 a pound over the past few weeks, he said. The meat, which Knight's is selling for about $5.50 a pound, is some $2 higher a pound than a year ago.

Wholesale prices for pork were so low in recent years that many hog farmers went out of business. The price bottomed out at $8 for a hundred pounds a little over a year ago but since has climbed to $52.

Consumers can expect prices to climb even higher, in part because meat typically costs more during the backyard barbecue season.

"When you're losing 50 percent of this product, that creates a problem," said Steven Grover, vice president of the National Restaurant Association.

And it's not just baby backs.

"There's a shortage of all kinds of ribs," said Tom Milligan, a partner at Creekside Grill and Bar in Scio Township.

Baby back ribs refer to ribs less than 2 inches long, and are cut from the part closest to the spine. St. Louis style ribs are 2-3 inches, while spare ribs are longer than 3 inches.

A couple of decades ago, Danish hog farmers began selling boneless loin cuts to Japan, but were left wondering what to do with the bones. They coined the term baby back ribs - a misnomer, because the ribs actually come from adult hogs - and began selling them to Americans.

Due to the high fat content, the meat is more tender and tasty, some devotees claim, the likely reason they were a hit, accounting for $100 million in imports from Denmark last year.

Though foot-and-mouth has not been detected in Denmark, the U.S. ban imposed in mid-March is expected to continue at least through April and possibly longer.

Most restaurant chains have a four- to six-week supply on hand, Grover said, but "if it goes longer, you might start to see somewhat of a shortage."

A spokeswoman for T.G.I. Friday's said her chain has about an eight-week supply and is looking for other sources. C.J. Stevens, a manager at Outback Steakhouse in Pittsfield Township, said the restaurant will start ordering domestic ribs.

Milligan of Creekside Grill & Bar doesn't think rib lovers should panic.

"You'll always get the amount you need," he promises, "if you're willing to pay the price."
Source: Ann Arbor News