Confusion about brand name leads to false claims about Aldi’s bacon

CLAIM: Bacon sold by Aldi grocery stores under its brand Appleton Meats does not come from pigs and is instead grown from cells in a lab.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Aldi told The Associated Press that products sold through its store brand — Appleton Farms — “are not produced through cultivated lab practices.” A Canadian company named Appleton Meats, which is not affiliated with Appleton Farms, was founded in 2017 with the goal of producing lab-grown meat, according to local news reports.

THE FACTS: Social media users are circulating false claims about Aldi’s store brand bacon, confusing it with a cellular agriculture company that has a similar name. Many shared identical text, along with a picture of the chain’s Appleton Farms premium sliced bacon sitting in a grocery cart.

“Aldi’s customers: If you shop at Aldi you need to know that store brand bacon is not from pig it’s from a growing CELL,” the text reads.