Building a better hot dog

"If you were to take the best engineers in the world and asked them to design a perfect plug for a child's airway, you couldn't do better than a hot dog." That's according to a doctor with the American Academy of Pediatrics.

To solve the problem, Fast Company set design firm RKS to the task of creating a less-deadly processed meat paste sausage. Their solution was this spiral dog, the result of some delightful experiments with a Play-Doh Fun Factory.

(Via Popular Science)

Photo taken by RKS

Maggie Koerth-Baker is the science editor at BoingBoing.net. She writes a monthly column for The New York Times Magazine and is the author of Before the Lights Go Out, a book about electricity, infrastructure, and the future of energy. You can find Maggie on Twitter and Facebook.

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dman

Me, I just wanted to comment on this thread because I found the URL intriguing…
Popular science indeed?
Berk

For a start, Don’t we already have these (in the UK, at least) as “Turkey” twizzlers? Which, it should be noted are bad, evil, wrong, and look remarkably like the ‘after’ photos of certain body mods.

Secondly, why the bloody hell would any foods that are chewable by a human present a significant choking hazard? that’s why we have teeth and saliva, isn’t it?

Also, if a child is at an age where choking on food is a greater risk, cut it up and serve it to them in easily handled portions, no need for a redesign of food, just common sense.

Oh, and stop feeding kids processed shite, it’s no good for them.
Jonathan Badger

I think that doctor underestimates the talent of our best engineers. As if they would be incapable of thinking up a better esophageal plug than a hotdog, really! I’m just a biologist, but I can think of a better one off the top of my head: a quick setting resin that would create an airtight seal in the esophagus after being swallowed.
warreno

We must, MUST save our children from the scourge of choking on wieners!

Wait, let me rephrase that.

It’s obvious, of course, that Hebrew National is a front for a Zionist cabal out to demoralize Americans by…

Wow, I really just can’t go on. Choking on hot dogs? Really? That’s ALL we need to worry about in re our kids?

Are we lucky, or rock-stupid and actually worthy of extinction?
Anonymous

The Lifesaver candy shape, with a center hole, was invented to prevent choking on hard candy. A new hot dog with the center removed like the cross-section of a Lifesaver could solve the problem. You might even be able to pipe ketchup and mustard inside!
Boomshadow

“Censorship is telling a man he can’t have a steak just because a baby can’t chew it.”

–Unknown, but frequently attributed to Mark Twain

Seriously, parents. If you don’t think your child can chew a hot dog, the safest thing to do is cut it up. I mean, I don’t really eat hot dogs that often anymore, but I’m sure other people do.

I’m more concerned with what’s in them than the form factor. The form factor can be changed–but it should not be legislated.
- Felton
  
  Wait…is someone trying to outlaw the traditional form of hot dogs?
technogeek

As one of the manufacturers observed, there’s already an existing alternative-form-factor for hot dogs: Bologni is essentially the same mixture.
efergus3

A shot of super glue should do the trick. If your kid can’t figure out how to chew, you did WAY too many drugs when you were younger.
- cymk
  
  I agree. If parents would actually be parents and teach their kids things like chewing properly and basic manners, you’d be surprised how much progress we could make.
worldmatt

We did something similar â€” though weirder and, we think, funnier â€” over at Dadwagon.com:

http://www.dadwagon.com/2010/02/24/a-safer-hot-dog-designs-for-dadwagon-by-jon-paul-villegas/
Anonymous

A pig’s penis is spiral-shaped already, so perhaps this will save some processing costs as well……
Felton

the result of some delightful experiments with a Play-Doh Fun Factory.

Ah, upon first glance, I thought it was a spiral of wasabi paste.
Ernunnos

All set kids? Got your bike helmets on? Strapped into your IED-resistant child seats? Yes, I know you turned 13 last week, Timmy, but safety first! Ok, let’s put some Christian rock on this minivan’s stereo and go get us some Spy-Ro-Dogs!
- StRevAlex
  
  Welcome to the Future!
jaytkay

Not good enough. Anything solid can be choked on.

The obvious solution is the hot dog smoothie.
Anonymous

You would think people who spent years studying human anatomy could figure out that using the oldest tool in human history can fix this problem.
Eli the Bearded

Finally a use for meat spaghetti!

http://boingboing.net/2008/08/06/scientists-invent-me.html
Anonymous

Maybe I was a bigger spaz as a child than anyone commenting on this thread, but I vividly remember once nearly choking on a cafeteria hot dog. Despite nature’s attempt to weed me out, I survived and became better at masticating my food. That said, I think spiral hot dog is brilliant, especially for lazy chewers. And oh so tasty looking its playdoh form.
Anonymous

Maybe I was a bigger spaz as a child than anyone commenting on this thread, but I vividly remember once nearly choking on a cafeteria hot dog. Despite nature’s attempt to weed me out, I survived and became better at masticating my food. That said, I think spiral hot dog is brilliant, especially for lazy chewers. And oh so tasty looking its playdoh form.
joeposts

I unfortunately knew a child who died from choking on a dog. She had swallowing problems because of Cerebral Palsy. The caregiver who fed her the hot dog didn’t know about the dangers and obviously never recovered from seeing her die.

It’s not like anyone wants to outlaw weiners, but raising awareness about choking hazards is never a bad idea. And as the doctor points out. it really isn’t that hard to re-engineer an engineered piece of food. Grapes are a choking hazard too – he doesn’t recommend we genetically engineer a new grape.

Unfortunately it seems like the frankfurter lobby has got to BBers, except for the ones who want them banned because they are really really unhealthy. I presume the soy dog lobby has gone after those ones. Me, I’ve been brainwashed by the anti-choking lobby.
- Felton
  
  It’s not like anyone wants to outlaw weiners.
  
  “Big weiner” lobbyists will make sure that never happens, anyway.
  
  (Sorry, I just had to say it.)
Kerov

So, let me get this straight: the uproar isn’t about the fact that parents are feeding their kids a nauseating pureed composite of fat, offal, and salt. Nor is it about the fact that such fatty processed food-tainment products are the cause of the obesity epidemic that is causing millions of premature deaths annually. No, the story is about the literally one-in-a-million chance that your kid might choke on this food-like object.

We are going extinct, and we deserve it.
- Anonymous
  
  Without fat, offal or salt I would be very sad.
nutbastard

“Hot dogs are one of the worst things on sale in a supermarket: made from bits of animal you didn’t know existed”

And yet, we always are proud to remark about how the native americans used every part of the animal. when they do it, they’re communing with nature, when we do it, it’s ‘gross’?
- MrsBug
  
  I would hazard a guess that it’s not the fact that they use every part…it’s HOW they use every part. That whole “mechanical separation”….how foul.
  - PalookaJoe
    
    To an avid sardine-eater like me (stay with me, this really does make sense) mechanical separation sounds like a good way to get extra calcium into your diet. One of the best things about the little fish, aside from the tastiness and the healthy oil, is that the bones are so small that we can eat them along with everything else. If mechanical separation can break the bones of larger creatures into easily digestible chunks, then hot dogs may have some healthy side effects that I never realized.
    
    On the other hand, the amount of salt and fat in an average hot dog is probably much higher than it should be. But get those under control and hot dogs might actually be a healthy option, especially for kids who are dead set against other delivery systems for calcium. In that case, a spiral shape that minimizes the choking hazard for smaller kids actually makes a lot of sense.
taj

It’s Soylent Weiner!
glaborous immolate

@23

Everybody complains about wasteful packaging, and all the food we throw away, blah blah blah.

But we actually find a ways to get the last bit of useful meat out of an animal (mechanical separation) and everyone goes “ewww, gross”.
- Hal
  
  Good point but you can feed that stuff to cats and dogs rather than kids
PalookaJoe

I’m trying as hard as I can, but I can’t muster up that much anger over hot dogs. I’ll leave that to those whose sense of outrage is better exercised than mine. But I love this solution to the problem. It’s practical and it’s fun.
- Symbiote
  
  You can’t? Hot dogs are one of the worst things on sale in a supermarket: made from bits of animal you didn’t know existed, fat, gunk, salt…
  
  “The finished products may not contain more than 30% fat or no more than 10% water” “Hot dogs can contain no more than 20% mechanically separated beef or pork.” “Mechanically Separated Poultry (MSP) is a paste-like and batter-like poultry product produced by forcing bones, with attached edible tissue, through a sieve or similar device under high pressure to separate bone from the edible tissue. Mechanically separated poultry has been used in poultry products since the late 1960′s. In 1995, a final rule on mechanically separated poultry said it was safe and could be used without restrictions. However, it must be labeled as “mechanically separated chicken or turkey” in the product’s ingredients statement. The final rule became effective November 4, 1996. Hot dogs can contain any amount of mechanically separated chicken or turkey.”
  Source
  - Anonymous
    
    That totally just wet my appetite for hot dogs even more. Mmm, delicious.
  - Trent Hawkins
    
    How are Kosher dogs in comparison?
  - PalookaJoe
    
    I really can’t. My indignation muscles are just too weary. You go on without me.
Felton

Me, I’ve been brainwashed by the anti-choking lobby.

Heheh! Definitely a hard position to argue against. :-)
Anonymous

Maybe I was a bigger spaz as a child than anyone commenting on this thread, but I vividly remember once nearly choking on a cafeteria hot dog. Despite nature’s attempt to weed me out, I survived and became better at masticating my food. That said, I think spiral hot dog is brilliant, especially for lazy chewers. And oh so tasty looking its playdoh form.
horsepj

Ketchup on a hot dog?
PaulR

Perfect! And they get to reduce the “meat” to casing ratio!
Anonymous

An actual low-tech solution for a serious problem from NPR… cut the hot dog length-wise.
apoxia

Let’s make processed meat even more processed and less nutritionally sound!

That’s my first untempered thought anyway.

My second thought is to wonder whether having a bright green hotdog would make spiral hotdogs even more appetizing to children. Now there’s a great idea for a value-added food-like substitute. I bet you could even charge more for it!
- Anonymous
  
  You know that the spiral there is made of play-dough and not actual sausage, right? It’s a design concept.
Anonymous

What a disgusting mess! Might as well put it in a can and spray it down your throat.
Jamie Sue

I can’t find anything appetizing about spiral screw meat. But, I’m not a kid. Kids like crazy shit. Cover a screw dog in green ketchup and they’ll be all over it, I’m sure.
Anonymous

Or, you could consider this angle: in 2006, 61 children died choking on food. I canâ€™t imagine their parentsâ€™ anguish. But to put that number in perspective, in 2005, 1,335 children died as car passengers.

Which is to say: Every day we engage in activities that hold some danger, however slight, and that is as it should be. Otherwise weâ€™d be paralyzed with fear.

Should we try to be safe? Yes. Can we ever be totally safe? No.

http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/surely-you-must-be-choking/
PapayaSF

Attention health nannies! Traditional foods do not need to be redesigned for children or anyone! There is an ancient, apparently forgotten secret that prevents nearly all deaths from choking on food: it’s called “chewing.”

That is all.