The All American Hotdog: How Can It Be Wrong?

Timothy Tyrrell

Christopher Richardson

English 101

26 October 2012

The All American Hotdog: How Can It Be Wrong?

The overwhelming majority of Americans have probably, at one time or another, eaten a hotdog. For instance, O’Hare airport sells approximately two million hotdogs per year (thestatecafe.com). The convenience store giant, 7-Eleven, sells a whopping 100 million every year (Weingarten). These two amazing statistics tell just how popular the hot dog really is. But for every good, or positive, there usually is a negative. Not only is the process of making a hotdog rather disgusting, there may be some health risks associated with eating them. If the American public was aware of how hotdogs are produced and the ingredients used to create them, it is likely that hotdogs would not be the food of choice for many people.

While there is no definitive answer on how many hotdogs are actually produced in America each year, there are some rather eye popping statistics of Americans’ infatuation with the hot dog. There are approximately nineteen billion hotdogs consumed each year (weirdfacts.com). The summer season seems to be the most popular for eating hotdogs, as a stunning seven billion hotdogs are eaten from Memorial Day to Labor Day, with 150 million of those being eaten on July 4th alone (fillyourplate.org). Another hard to believe fact about hotdogs is there are roughly 550 eaten every second (weirdfacts.com). The popularity of the hotdog is evident by the fact that it is served in 94% of homes in the United States (weirdfacts.com), and the average American will eat approximately fifty hotdogs each year (blog.fooducate.com).

With the hot dog being such a popular choice of food, let’s take a look at how they are actually made. First, trimmings or unwanted cutoffs from pork, beef, and chicken are mixed together and ground into a product similar to ground beef. Liquids, such as water and corn syrup, and spices are then added to the meat. These ingredients are...