To help answer the question, producer and co-host Darius Rafian spoke with Hormel Foods Foodservice pizza toppings brand manager and pizza enthusiast Anthony Panichelli, who broke down the numbers and shared a little bit about the history of the popular pizza topping.
“This is maybe my favorite listener question ever,” said Cardiff Garcia, co-host of The Indicator. Panichelli shared some staggering stats, such as the number of pizzas consumed in the United States each year (3 billion), the percentage of pizzas made that have pepperoni on them (36), and the rough amount of pepperoni produced in the United States per year (414 million pounds). With the data available to Panichelli, it was estimated that roughly 51 percent of pepperoni produced in the United States ends up on pizza. To listen to the podcast, visit www.npr.org/podcasts.
