Information about Hot Dogs

Every single day in the United States, 50 million hot dogs are eaten.
This amounts to about 80 hot dogs per person per year.

The traditional hot dog is precooked, smoked sausage made of selected
meat trimmings and seasonings. Meat by-products and mechanically
deboned meat may be used in their production. Subject to federal
quality controls, they must be listed on the label when used, just as
the more commonly used meats must be. Hot dogs may also contain up
to 3.5 percent non-meat binders, such as nonfat dry milk, cereal,
dried whole milk, or 2 percent isolated soy protein. These binders
must also be distinctly labeled.

Sodium nitrite, a preservative, is added to maintain natural meat
color and impart the distinctive, cured meat flavor. The United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA) permits 200 parts per million in
sausage. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration allows the addition of
nitrite on the basis of a long history of safety and closely monitors
its use. Nitrites have been linked with cancer in laboratory animals.

Beyond protein, hot dogs have little else on the nutritional plus
side. The minus side, however, is a different story. The average hot
dog has about 145 calories (jumbo size weighs in at 185), a good dose
of sodium, and more than its share of fat--about 13 grams. In many
cases, about 70 percent of the calories come from fat, making hot dogs
more of a fat source than a meat source.

Many manufacturers are making lower-fat hot dogs to please consumers
who want to watch their fat intake but don't want to give up their
hot dogs. Many of these "slimmer" dogs have the word "Lite" or "Light"
in their name. Caution: Don't believe everything you see on labels.
Presently, in order to call itself lite, a hot dog must contain at least
33 percent less fat by weight than the USDA standard for regular wieners.
In other words, it must be no more than 20 percent--not 30 percent--fat.

A practical way to judge which hot dogs are the leanest is to
figure how many of the calories in your hot dog come from fat.
You can figure this out by multiplying the number of fat grams per hot
dog by nine, then dividing this figure by the total calories per hot
dog. For example: 10 grams of fat x 9 calories per gram = 90 fat
calories. Divide 90 by the total calories per hot dog, say 180, and you
get an answer of .5. or 50 percent. This means that 50 percent of the
total calories in your hot dog come from fat.

Hot dogs made from lean poultry, vegetables, and even tofu are now
available. Not all of the newer hot dogs are more healthful than the
old version.

As you might guess, vegetarian franks are much lower in fat than
either the turkey or chicken versions, because their primary ingredient
isn't an animal product. You probably won't find veggie dogs at your
local supermarket. But they can usually be found in health food outlets.

Turkey franks are lower in fat than beef and beef-pork combination
hot dogs. But because they are made from ground light and dark turkey
meat, they still contain a significant amount of fat. Most could never
be considered low in fat. And with poultry wieners, it's best to do
fat/calories calculations using the information on the labels.

The newest weiners are tofu hot dogs? Again, look out for them in
health food stores--but only if you're determined to have a new hot
dog experience! Vegetable and tofu franks have a different texture
from meat franks due to the wheat gluten, soy protein, and vegetable
gum they contain. And, contrary to popular thought, tofu is not
particularly low in fat, so don't bet on these dogs to be, either.
Always check the labels to be sure.