The U.S. Bureau of Prisons has removed pork products from its national menu for its fiscal year 2016, which started on October 1. According to the agency, pork ranked as the most disliked menu item on an annual survey of prison inmates, reports Quartz.
Pork is forbidden by Islam and Judaism, and in 2011 Ohio removed pork from its prison system after a lawsuit from a Muslim death row inmate. But BOP spokesman Dana Williams said the decision had nothing to do with religious considerations. “We try to be good stewards of government money. We don’t want to be wasteful,” she said
“For people who are incarcerated, we understand that they’re denied certain rights and freedoms but we don’t think bacon should be one of them,” Dave Warner, a spokesman for the National Pork Producers Council, told The Star Telegram newspaper, whichfirst reported the BOP decision. “I do find it hard to believe that the majority would say ‘No thank you to bacon,’” Warner added.
Prisoners will still be able to buy pork items from the prison commissaries, and turkey bacon will be served.
