By Becki Sanders
FoodConnect San Francisco
becki.sanders@foodconnect.com

Hot Dogs Dissected

Have you seen that commercial about internet searches where the woman stands there with a hot dog and asks to herself “what are hot dogs really made of anyway?” I wonder if anyone really knows for sure. It seems to me like the kind food where the ingredients could change at any moment. Well, I don’t really eat hot dogs because the last time I did I felt slightly ill and fully regretful. But what could be in there that’s really that bad?

I decided to take a look and here’s what I found. According to the Kraft Foods website, here is your basic Oscar Meyer Weiner Ingredient Label:

” Ingredients: MECHANICALLY SEPARATED TURKEY, PORK, MECHANICALLY SEPARATED CHICKEN, WATER, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF SALT, FLAVOR, SODIUM LACTATE, CORN SYRUP, DEXTROSE, SODIUM PHOSPHATES, SODIUM DIACETATE, SODIUM ASCORBATE, SODIUM NITRITE..”

Meats - Usually it’s a combination of meats, such as beef, pork, chicken and/or turkey. This one contains turkey and pork, mechanically separated which I’m not entirely sure what that means.

Seasonings – I like this one. Salt and “flavor”. Is this even legal? What’s the point of having “flavor” as an ingredient? Very suspicious.

Sodium Lactate – Not sure what this is either but according to wikipedia it’s usually used in shampoos and soaps. Enough said.

Sugars - Corn Syrup and dextrose, both highly processed sugars.

Sodium Phosphate – Er, my head is already spinning. This has something to do with keeping fats separated and making the food last unnaturally long.

Sodium Diacetate – Mold inhibitor and food preservative.

Sodium Ascorbate – Ugh. I dropped out of chemistry and now I remember why. Wait, I think this is related to Vitamin C. That’s weird but okay I can live with that.

Sodium Nitrite - The yucky stuff that is often found in bacon as well. It’s thought to be carcinogenic which basically equals cancer.

They are also usually colored artificially to give them that pinkish glow. This one does not list it but sometimes they can legally leave stuff off when it’s a tiny amount so who knows.

Casing – This isn’t on the ingredients list but most generic hot dogs are stuffed into a synthetic cellulose casing rather than higher quality sausages, which are cased in animal intestines.

Also, with the flavored versions, like "smoked" there is MSG, Monosodium Glutamate. We've probably all heard the stories about that stuff. Personally, it leaves me with weird rashes on my face. Lovely.

Well, there you go, one of America’s favorites. Some mechanically separated meats mixed with syrup and lots of other strange stuff. In fact, the only ingredient I fully understand on there is salt. Personally I like to be able to understand what I’m eating, let alone be able to pronounce it.