Bringing home the bacon

We like our shoplifting bloody

By Kim Carlson

January 19, 2007

According to Slate, meat – of all things – is the most shoplifted item in the country.

Cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine used to rate highest on the Steal-o-Meter, but now that many states have required stores to put those products behind the counter, they’ve lost their place at the top.

Sadly, I know that baby formula and diapers remain high on the list, too.

But meat? I had no idea.

Packages carrying the Certified Angus Beef brand are especially popular with the sticky-fingers crowd. Dashing and dining, apparently, demands high-end rewards.

“Aspirational meatlifters are most likely to be gainfully employed women between 35 and 54,” reports Slate author Brendan I. Koerner.

Maybe they’re suffering from iron deficiencies. But it sure takes nerves of steel to stash a hunk of raw flesh in your purse.