What's in a hot dog?

Question

I know obviously meat and spices, etc. But specifically what parts of the animal. I know there's some gross stuff in there but I'd like to know what.

Answer 1

It does vary from one brand to the next, Look at the ingredients list and see if it contains things like:

MSM / Mechanically separated meat / advanced meat bone separation / meat recovery systems - if it does, this is often chicken, either way, the "meat" is obtained as follows: Once they have stripped as much "real meat" from the bones, the bones (along with skin, feet and heads) and put into a giant centrifuge - that spins at an extremely high speed. VERY powerful (x,000 psi) water jets are directed into the drum and the contents basically break down into a "slightly gritty pink slurry".

Better quality hot-dogs may not contain chicken / MSM - but the "budget" ones nearly always do.

Add to that the rest of the pig that you would not normally consider "meat". In the UK - and I strongly suspect elsewhere - the **ONLY** part of the pig that cannot be legally added to the pot if the left ear - which is the part that takes all the jabs / inoculations / hormones etc.

EVERYTHING else is fair game, intestines, brain, "bits", skin, bone (after being liquidized into slurry by high pressure centrifuges).

Then they add a hint or two of glutinous matter, a bit more pink dye and some spices to it. Squeeze it out into an edible plastic tube and voila - one hot dog :) Intestines ARE fair game for a hot-dog but are not usually used as the casings - these are used only for better quality (!) sausages.

They do however taste ok and are fairly inexpensive - so folks eat them :)

Answer 2

Hot dogs are traditionally made from beef, pork, or a combination of those meats. Unlike many other sausages (which may be sold cooked or uncooked), hot dogs are always cooked before being offered commercially.

There is no fixed specification for hot dog meat, with pork and beef being the most popular. Less expensive hot dogs typically contain chicken, due to the low cost and availability of mechanically separated chicken, and some pork. Hot dogs are generally regarded as unhealthy insofar as most have high sodium, fat and nitrate content. Contents can also be questionable, with cheaper types of hot dogs having been known to contain snouts, ears, and blended organs. In recent years, due to changing dietary preferences in the U.S., manufacturers have turned to turkey, chicken, or vegetarian meat substitutes as well as lowering the salt content.

In general, if a manufacturer produces two different hot-dog-type sausages, "wieners" tend to contain pork, and to be the blander of the two, while "franks" tend to be all-beef, and more strongly seasoned. This is particularly true of Oscar Mayer.

Most Hot Dogs consist of not less than 15% of one or more kinds of raw skeletal muscle meat with raw meat byproducts. The byproducts (heart, kidney, or liver, for example) must be named with the derived species and be individually named in the ingredients statement.

Answer 3

Butcher+Push Broom+Large Shovel (to scoop what push broom gets off butcher's floor)+Grinder= Hot Dogs! Gotta love a weiner!

But seriously,don't ruin a good thing with the wonders of the world. That's like asking what's in head cheese and vienna sausage! Barf! Who wants to know:( ?

Answer 4

I was always told lips & beaks!

Actually, I think it's the remaining part of the pig, nothing goes to waste! Spices and seasonings too. I like hotdogs so I try not to think about it!

Answer 5

Leave it at that.

If you like them eat them.
If you don't like them your better off for that.

It could be almost any part of any animal except the bones or feathers.

Answer 6

It depends on if it's a beef,pork,or chicken. Whichever kind it is that's what type of parts are in it, but they are mostly leftover parts.

Answer 7

The leftover parts of a pig that they don't use when they make pork chops, bacon, etc...

Answer 8

See the Dan ackroyd Vacation movie...he claims the ingredients are "lips and a$$holes"

Answer 9

Not too sure bout hot dogs...
But stay away from Bologna, trust me.

Answer 10

Some questions are best left un answered.