Everything you didn’t want to know about Hot Dogs

My two guys spent yesterday at the new Yankee Stadium on Steriods and consumed a total of ten hotdogs between the two of them.  Now I’ll be the first to tell you I love a good hotdog, smothered in saurkraut and mustard on a soft roll.  My grandmother, who was an excellent cook, also enjoyed a good hotdog now and then.  (Liver too, we don’t share that passion. gack.)   But the consumption in one game of so many hotdogs got me to thinking….and googling.   I shoulda stopped there. 

It’s the subject of many urban legends, the object of many grade-schoolers’ double dares: do hot dogs contain pig snouts and chicken feathers, or are they really made from high-quality meat?

The debate certainly hasn’t put a damper on Americans’ enthusiasm for the food. The U.S. population consumes about 20 billion hot dogs a year, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council. That works out to about 70 hot dogs per person, per year. And, an estimated 95 percent of U.S. homes serve hot dogs at one meal or another.

Wondering how many hotdogs are sold each year? In 2005, retail stores sold 764 million packages of hot dogs (not including Wal-Mart), which adds up to more than $1.5 billion in retail sales.

In 2006, Americans ate enough hot dogs at major league ballparks to stretch from RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. to AT&T Park in San Francisco. New Yorkers eat more hot dogs than any other city population (even Chicago, also known for its hot dogs). Travelers at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport eat six times more hot dogs than travelers at Los Angeles International Airport and LaGuardia Airport combined.

Hot dog season — during which Americans eat 7 billion hot dogs — stretches from Memorial Day to Labor Day.  Americans eat 150 million hot dogs on the fourth of July, alone.

On to the million-dollar question: what are hot dogs made of? According to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council:

“All hot dogs are cured and cooked sausages that consist of mainly pork, beef, chicken and turkey or a combination of meat and poultry. Meats used in hot dogs come from the muscle of the animal and looks much like what you buy in the grocer’s case. Other ingredients include water, curing agents and spices, such as garlic, salt, sugar, ground mustard, nutmeg, coriander and white pepper.”

However, there are a couple of caveats. “Variety meats,” which include things like liver, kidneys and hearts, may be used in processed meats like hot dogs, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires that they be disclosed on the ingredient label as “with variety meats” or “with meat by-products.”

Further, watch out for statements like “made with mechanically separated meats (MSM).” Mechanically separated meat is “a paste-like and batter-like meat product produced by forcing bones, with attached edible meat, under high pressure through a sieve or similar device to separate the bone from the edible meat tissue,” according to the U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

Although the FSIS maintains that MSM are safe to eat, mechanically separated beef is no longer allowed in hot dogs or other processed meats (as of 2004) because of fears of mad cow disease. Hot dogs can contain no more than 20 percent mechanically separated pork, and any amount of mechanically separated chicken or turkey.

So if you’re looking for the purest franks, pick those that are labeled “all beef,” “all pork,” or “all chicken, turkey, etc.” Franks labeled in this way must be made with meat from a single species and do not include byproducts (but check the label anyway, just to be sure. Turkey and chicken franks, for instance, can include turkey or chicken meat and turkey or chicken skin and fat in proportion to a turkey or chicken carcass).

Are Hot Dogs Unhealthy?
Eating lots of processed meats like hot dogs has been linked to an increased risk of cancer. Part of that risk is probably due to the additives used in the meats, namely sodium nitrite and MSG.Sodium nitrite (or sodium nitrate) is used as a preservative, coloring and flavoring in hot dogs (and other processed meats), and studies have found it can lead to the formation of cancer-causing chemicals called nitrosamines.  MSG, a flavor enhancer used in hot dogs and many other processed foods, has been labeled as an “excitotoxin,” which, according to Dr. Russell Blaylock, an author and neurosurgeon, are “a group of excitatory amino acids that can cause sensitive neurons to die.”
If you love hot dogs and are looking for a healthier alternative, opt for nitrate-free, organic varieties (available in health food stores and increasingly in regular supermarkets) that contain all meat, no byproducts and no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives.

 What a pain in the a**.  And how gross!  But I love them.  So now and then I’ll probably still grab an all beef- meat/by/product sodium nitrite- MSG-nitrosamine enriched dog  with saurkraut and mustard .

 How do you like your hot dog?  

Information courtesy of Sixwise.com 

12 thoughts on “Everything you didn’t want to know about Hot Dogs”

  1. Hey! I was planning on having hot dogs for dinner tonight….now…not so much! Thanks for all the info on one of my most favorite warm weather meals! Seriously, though….ten in one day is a bit much!

  2. We fix New York style hot dogs when we have them at home or as a chili dog which is also very good, but try to eat them in moderation due to the nitrates they contain.

  4. Great stuff, Karen. I once wrote a story about a guy competing for the Nathan's 4th of July Hot Dog Eating Contest. He practiced by cooking two dozen hot dogs, putting them in buns, smothering them with mustard, and then setting his timer. After starting the timer, he then proceeded to eat 12 hot dogs himself while feeding the other 12 to his dog!

  5. I'm with you. Mustard and saurkraut! Sometimes ketchup.
    Why is it that tasty food is often so bad for us? I enjoy eating a hot dog but rarely do it .

  6. Oh.My.Word. hahahaha

    Well, good morning Ms Karen, and thanks for the info! 🙂

    I LOVE hot dogs, and especially homemade corn dogs with mustard.

  7. I loved this post… and I don't usually eat more than one or two dogs per year. Great music, too. I usually hate music on blogs, but always enjoy yours. What a great tune!

  8. Haahhhaaaaa… oh Karen… now I wanna have a hot dog with the works baby! Fun post (0; Glad I found you again.. onto the sequel blog I see… is it due to the maximum number of posts thingy? Peace & Love xo Happy May!

  9. I'm so far behind on This Old House (too). I know I responded when you when private, but I didn't get the new site into my news reader. The the last two weeks of April happened and I actually had more work every day than I could keep up with.

    I'm going to save the ten posts that I missed until sunset this evening and take my laptop out on the porch with a glass of pino grigio and savor them.

    Sorry to have been out to lunch since Mid-April.

    Vickie

  10. I like em with kraut and onions and mustard. And if the average American eats 70 per year. There must be three other dudes who ain't getting any, cause I'm eating their share.

  11. Ha! I guess I'm out-numbered here! The only hotdogs I like are the cute little, furry, four-legged ones! Like your last pic from above.

  12. I LOVE hot dogs.

    At a Twins game I have them with relish, mustard, and ketchup.

    At home I love them with coleslaw, mustard, and ketchup.

    I only love the super cheap, scrawny buns. Not too much bun.

    Oooooh! I am really glad I'm going to my first baseball game of the season on Wednesday and I can get my fill of my first dog.

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