9 Things You Never Wanted To Know About Hot Dogs

Hot dogs are served in 95 percent of homes in the United States. Fifteen percent of hot dogs are purchased from street vendors and 9 percent are purchased at ballparks, according to statistics from the Heartland Buffalo Company. (1)

Most hot dog companies use sodium nitrites as a preservative against bacteria, but they are known have a carcinogenic effect when eaten in excess. (2)

Nobody wastes time when gobbling their dog. (3)

In 2009, a Freedom of Information Act revealed two years worth of complaints about foreign objects in hot dogs. These objects included a Band-Aid, glass shards, metal fragments, maggots, a rat leg, a piece of an eyeball, a razor, and bone fragments (4)

Sara Lee's Ball Park Franks, one of THE most popular hot dog brand in the U.S., lists the first ingredient in their product as "mechanically separated turkey." What's that, you ask? The USDA describes it as a "paste-like and batter-like poultry product [that is] produced by forcing bones, with attached edible tissue, through a sive or similar device under high pressure." Paste-dog. Yum. (5)

Made by 230 5th in NYC, the pricey foot-long frank was made from marbled wagyu beef that had been dry aged for 60 days and laced with black truffles, then topped with onions (that were caramelized in Dom Perignon and $389-per-bottle balsamic vinegar) and sauerkraut (made with platinum oscetra caviar). It was served in a brioche bun smeared with white-truffle butter, in addition to ketchup and mustard, and garnished with an edible gold leaf. (6)

The current world's longest meat hot dog record holder measured 669 ft and was manufactured by Novex of Paraguay in 2011. I'm guessing that one needs more than 6 bites. (7)

Back in the day, all hot dogs were encased in the intestine of an unlucky animals. Nowadays, we have "artificial" casings made of collagen derived from the hides, bones, and tendons of various animals; cellulose from wood pulp; and yes, even plastic made from polymers such as Polyamide, Polypropylene or Polyethylene. (8)

Not scared of foreign objects? Well put this in your bun: "Hot dogs are one of the most potentially Listeria-prone foods. This potentially deadly food-borne poisoning causes symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, severe stomach cramping, diarrhea, blood infections, and even death, and is common to hot dogs and other processed meats." (9)