Hot Diggity Dog

The baseball season is underway. The Oregon Beavers just won the college world series for the second year in a row (personal interest-yipppeee!), and ballparks across the country are teaming with fans--hungry fans!

According to some stats, hot dog consumption often exceeds ticket sales! In 2004, Major League Baseball.com estimated that 26 million weenies are consumed during one season!

I'm going to skip the health low-down on the salty piglets. Needless to say, most dogs are anything but healthy. And athletic-minded individuals are undoubtedly aware that in addition to the salt and fat, nearly all dogs contain nitrates--which are bad bad bad. (To learn about nitrates and deli meat, check out a past post on this subject.)

BUT, here's something that may interest those who can't forgo the frank and instead opt for a "healthy" version. The July 2007 Consumer Reports issue reveals that many uncured franks that tout having no added nitrates, do in fact have the pesky substance. Consumer Reports found that Applegate Farms, Coleman Natural and Whole Ranch all contained nitrates and nitrites comparable to the "regular" brands. Ouch.

So what gives? Unfortunately, according to the article, sodium nitrite and nitrate (which can form nitrosamines--the substance linked to cancers), occur naturally in spices and other ingredients during processing. This means that the claim of no "added" nitrates is correct, but the problem is that they show up as a result of the processing.

Additionally, the article gives a thumbs down to soy dogs and other non-meat choices, but I really like Smart Dogs. I nuke one for about 30-40 seconds and dip it in hummus. It's quick, salty and tasty.

Anyway, for those heading to the ballpark, consider this: "Manufacturers are permitted to process franks using machinery that scrapes meat from the bone. That brings a remote possibility that hot dogs might include central nervous system tissue, which has been recognized by the USDA as a transmission risk for mad cow disease if it comes from an infected animal." -- Consumer Reports, July 2007.

Mad, angry or slightly peeved...the temperament of the cow is worrisome...but it's the "scraping the bone" thing that gets me. Gross.