Choke-free Hotdogs...Anyone?

Filed in archive Ingredient Spotlight on February 22, 2010

© Micah Taylor

According to Pediatrics, more than 10,000 children under 14 go to the emergency room each year after choking on food, and up to 77 die. 17% of food-related asphyxiations are caused by hot dogs. Despite the fat, sodium and preservatives, both kids and grown-ups just love hot dogs.

In lieu of the asphyxiations of youngsters due to hot dogs, pediatricians want warning labels on hot dogs. Moreover, they want a hot dog redesign. Just to make it choke-free.

Said Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio:

"If you were to take the best engineers in the world and try to design the perfect plug for a child's airway, it would be a hot dog. I'm a pediatric emergency doctor, and to try to get them out once they're wedged in, it's almost impossible. No parents can watch all of their kids 100% of the time. The best way to protect kids is to design these risks out of existence."

Though Smith says he doesn't know exactly how someone would redesign a hot dog, he's certain that some savvy inventor will find a way.

Is it really a redesign that's needed? Or should we just watch our kids while eating and tell them to eat and chew their food carefully?