One of the Super Bowl favorite staple foods is wings. Although it was reported a week ago, that there was a wing shortage. As Americans plan their Super Bowl parties out across the States the report on wings seems to be a rumor.
Americans are ordering wings from wing shops, supermarkets, as well as purchasing frozen wings and raw chicken wings to make their favorite recipes for Super Bowl weekend.
There seems to be no wing shortage as the expectation of wings to be eaten this Super Bowl weekend is over 1.23 billion wings. Although that numbers seems relatively high it’s still lower than last year estimation of 1.25 billion wings eaten during Super Bowl weekend by the National Chicken Council (NCC).
NCC says that last year one percent fewer chickens were produced because of the high corn and feed prices. Corn makes up most of the chicken feed, and corn prices sky rocketed in 2012 according to NCC.
The high price of corn is due to two reasons: last year’s summer drought, and the pressure from the federal government mandating that 40 percent of their corn crop be turned into fuel as ethanol.
If there is less corn, the prices of the feed goes up thus far producing less chicken says the NCC.
Since the demand for chicken wings has doubled over the last couple of years, some restaurants have passed off chicken breast as boneless wings to accommodate customers’ requests of wings.
Wings are the most popular item from a whole chicken beating out the breast, and to think once upon a time it was known as a cheap byproduct. Due to its popularity the prices of wings have increased over the years.
NCC estimates that 13.25 billion wings will be sold throughout the year; however the Super Bowl weekend will having Americans consuming over 1.23 billion wings.
NCC conducted a study of supermarkets and grocery stores in 2012 sales of chicken wings and found that the main time of the year wings were heavily purchased was during Super Bowl weekend.
The rumors of wings shortage can be laid to rest for now, as there are more than enough wings to purchase this Super Bowl XLVII weekend. However the prices may be slightly higher than usual based on the old rule of supply and demand.
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