If you consider the content of hot dogs and the way they are produced, you might be surprised to find out that this much loved food is lurking with health dangers.
Hot dogs are America’s number one treat with more than seven billion of them consumed every summer. They were initially introduced by the German immigrants in the 19th century when they were introduced by the German immigrants, and gained their popularity soon, so nowadays, they even enjoy an iconic status. However, what has been proved to be a fact is that hot dogs are a real health hazard.
Undoubtedly, there is nothing natural about frankfurters, since they are nutritionally empty processed foods. The factories produce them in a highly robotized manner at an astonishing rate of 300,000 hot dogs per hour.
Namely, hot dogs contain a mixture of pork, beef and chicken. In their production, factories use leftovers from cutting steaks or pork chops and ‘edible’ slaughter by-products, such as animal feet and heads, fatty tissue and skins.
All these leftovers are being ground and mixed together into a thick paste. Then, a plethora of additives is added in order to improve the taste of the mixture, including excessive amounts of salt, corn syrup, monosodium glutamate (MSG), nitrates, and other chemicals.
As the tastes of people differ, flavorings vary depending on the area where the hot dogs are sold. Flavorings include the infamous monosodium glutamate (MSG) and carmine – a dye from the shells of small beetles, boiled in ammonia or sodium carbonate.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) doesn’t require manufacturers to list flavorings on the label, so just about anything goes.
Furthermore, processed meats in general have been shown to increase the risk of pancreatic cancer by 67% in a study by the University of Hawaii.
Some of the most problematic additives used in hot dogs are nitrates and nitrites. Even organic hot dogs contain nitrite, sometimes even in higher amounts than the conventional hot dogs. Namely, these two additives combine with amines in processed meat in the presence of high heat and result in nitrosamines. Nitrosamines have been linked to cancer, especially bladder, pancreas, colon, and stomach cancer.
The American Institute for Cancer Research states that one hot dog a day increases your risk for colorectal cancer by 21%.
The following video shows the process of production of hot dogs: