Great article, Pat! I heard a National Public Radio (NPR) story about this the other day, and I'm particularly fascinated with all the hubbub over it.
In the NPR story, a hot dog manufacturer was interviewed. He stated that it is impossible to redesign the hot dog in a different shape because of the consistency of a hot dog will not hold in (say) a pattie shape. It is because of the emulsifier(?) used to squeeze the contents into the casing, regardless of if the casing is natural, or some produced product.
He said that if you want to make hot dogs safer, and can't be bothered with cutting them up into smaller less 'chokey' pieces, eat baloney instead because it's made of the same stuff without the casing.
With two small boys, food safety is an important issue as the figures in your article clearly state it should, and it does take diligent parenting to assure safe eating at home and if you allow snacks in the car. For that reason, my 22mo. old is still not allowed to eat fruit snacks at all, no matter how he cries. It isn't an easy job, but as a parent, you have to make those choices. It's fine to say that manufacturers need to be more sensitive to issues of their customers, and the government also plays a part in regulating, but in the end, it is the parents who are ultimately responsible for the safety of their family. Everything else is just today's chatter in my opinion.
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Great article, Pat! I heard a National Public Radio (NPR) story about this the other day, and I'm particularly fascinated with all the hubbub over it.
In the NPR story, a hot dog manufacturer was interviewed. He stated that it is impossible to redesign the hot dog in a different shape because of the consistency of a hot dog will not hold in (say) a pattie shape. It is because of the emulsifier(?) used to squeeze the contents into the casing, regardless of if the casing is natural, or some produced product.
He said that if you want to make hot dogs safer, and can't be bothered with cutting them up into smaller less 'chokey' pieces, eat baloney instead because it's made of the same stuff without the casing.
With two small boys, food safety is an important issue as the figures in your article clearly state it should, and it does take diligent parenting to assure safe eating at home and if you allow snacks in the car. For that reason, my 22mo. old is still not allowed to eat fruit snacks at all, no matter how he cries. It isn't an easy job, but as a parent, you have to make those choices. It's fine to say that manufacturers need to be more sensitive to issues of their customers, and the government also plays a part in regulating, but in the end, it is the parents who are ultimately responsible for the safety of their family. Everything else is just today's chatter in my opinion.
February 25, 2010 - 11:00amThis Comment
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