The Fan-Favorite Brand That May Be Behind Costco's Kirkland Bacon

With a lot of keen detective work, we've uncovered — and revealed — some of the secret manufacturers of Costco's Kirkland brand. From Kirkland's boxed wine to Kirkland Signature's Parmigiano Reggiano, we've solved the mysteries of which companies make them. But deducing who actually produces Costco's Kirkland bacon is a challenge that may put our Sherlock-Holmesian skills to the test. That stated, let's go straight to the facts. In 2004, Hormel Foods — the international manufacturer of food and meat products that's been in existence since 1891 — had been a Costco bacon supplier. Costco wanted to find a supplier specifically for pre-cooked bacon, but the company's search proved fruitless as no supplier met Costco's exceptionally high standards. So Costco went back to Hormel, which had already been producing pre-cooked bacon, and released a product that was co-branded with Hormel and Kirkland Signature. 

The resulting bacon was sliced thicker than Hormel's because Costco wanted the pre-cooked strips to look appealingly large on a plate. Other than the usual free samples at Costco stores, the store did little to market the co-branded bacon, and even though it was sold at a premium price, the pre-cooked bacon was an immediate hit. In 2013, Consumer Reports rated the regular Kirkland Signature as the best bacon, and it's been presumed over the years that Hormel was the supplier due to their co-branding on the pre-cooked product. But recently, a Hormel representative out-and-out denied that the company made Kirkland's bacon. Instead, the current supplier of Costco's bacon could be Smithfield.

Smithfield, however, has yet to confirm or deny whether it is indeed Costco's bacon supplier. But it's a decent educated guess. Headquartered in Smithfield, Virginia, Smithfield Foods has been reported by USA Today to be the largest producer of pork products in the world. Of Costco's regional suppliers, Smithfield allegedly provides approximately 75-80 percent of Kirkland Signature bacon, and Smithfield's bacon is also sold at large chains that include Target and Kroger grocery stores. A meat-industry expert, Ryan Stegall, is reported in AllRecipes as saying that Costco is known for using a single supplier for its Kirkland brand product, so it's quite possible that Costco may have teamed up with Smithfield. 

With no hard proof yet, though, the Costco-Smithfield connection is just speculation. One thing that we do know for certain is recently Costco's Kirkland bacon has been much criticized on social media for a noticeable decline in quality. Redditors on Costco threads have cited inconsistent slicing and a higher fat-to-meat ratio, and former fans have abandoned their cherished Kirkland bacon and are making their own with less salty pork belly. So despite our investigation, and until Smithfield confesses that it's making Costco's Kirkland bacon, this case remains open.