A 16-pound porker sold for $1.6 million on Thursday. The ham hock, produced by Broadbent B&B Foods of Kuttawa, Ky., won grand prize at the Kentucky State Fair and was auctioned off during the 47th Annual Kentucky Ham Breakfast in Louisville.
Bringing home the bacon are two regional business leaders: Bernard Trager, Chairman of Republic Bank and Trust, and Dr. Mark Lynn, owner of Dr. Bizer’s Vision World. Each pledged $800,000 for the prized cut of meat.
According to WLKY Louisville, the full $1.6 million will be split among the University of Louisville, Visually Impaired Preschool Services and Eastern Area Community Ministries. The previous record price for a ham, $1.3 million, was set at last year’s Ham Breakfast. At the first Kentucky Ham Breakfast in 1964, the grand prize piece of pig was auctioned off for a modest $124, according to The Truth Regional News. Over the past 10 years, the auction has raised more than $4.5 million for local charities.
The charity purchase shatters previous pricey food records. In December 2007, Macau billionaire Stanley Ho paid $330,000 for a 3.3-pound white truffle. Proceeds went to nonprofits The Consortium for Street Children in the UK, the Telethon in Italy and Caritas in China. In January 2010, a 511-pound bluefin tuna fetched $175,000 at an auction at Tokyo‘s Tsukiji fish market. Two restaurateurs from Japan and Hong Kong purchased the fish, caught off the northern tip of Honshu. No charity was involved this time.
Photo by Renee Comet via Wikimedia Commons.