As Germany’s Romance With Pork Fades, Sausages Get the Chop

  • Nation’s pork consumption per capita has plunged in past years
  • Pig farmers and meat processors are withdrawing amid hurdles
BärchenwurstSource: The Family Butchers Germany GmbH
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For about two decades, a meat plant in the northwest German town of Vörden has helped produce a bear-shaped cold cut known as Bärchenwurst, beloved by children across the country. But rising production costs and waning demand for pork — even in a nation that once had some of the highest per capita consumption rates — forced the factory’s operator to declare a few weeks ago that it would shut down.

To read a German version of this story, click here.