Most of us have been eating hotdogs since time immemorial, and also a greater percentage of still must have never been sure about what exactly is in it.  Some of us even used to think that there must be some cultured worms in there because of the appearance.  But the rumors were worse; some said there were hotdogs made with discarded animal innards and clumsy rats that fell into the grinder.  Ew.

In reality, in case you still don’t know, hotdogs are made with beef or turkey.  However these meat are processed, which explains why the more health-conscious population nowadays are on high-alert when it comes to hotdogs and other mass-produced food.  Also, aside from meat, you can also find nitrites and preservatives, which are used in process meats, that are detrimental to our health, because of their cancer-causing carcinogens.

There is even a health advocacy group that wants hotdogs to carry warning labels about cancer-risk.  The Cancer Project is an offshoot of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM).  PCRM is a group promoting meat-free diets, has filed a lawsuit in New Jersey, asking that hotdog companies to plaster colon cancer-risk warnings on their packages.

The labels Cancer Project is referring to are the ones similar to the ones you find slapped on cigarette boxes.  They added that hotdog companies are well aware of the health risk of their products.

Although PCRM’s idea is not really a bad one, and is in fact advantageous in terms of health care, the thing is, hotdogs are not the only food products that are cancerous.  If we start labeling food products with cancer-risk warnings, we might end up not eating a lot of foods sold in the market, and just settle for fruits and vegetables fresh from our gardens.