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Of the 345 hot dogs and sausages Clear Food analyzed for this report, 14.4% were problematic in some way. Problems included substitutions and hygienic issues. Substitution occurs when ingredients are added that do not show up on the label. Hygienic issues occur when some sort of non-harmful contaminant is introduced to the hot dog, in most cases, human DNA. Here's what we found:
Substitution: We encountered a surprising number of substitutions or unexpected ingredients. We found evidence of meats not found on labels, an absence of ingredients advertised on labels, and meat in some vegetarian products.
Hygienic issues: Clear Food found human DNA in 2% of the samples, and in 2/3rds of the vegetarian samples.
We found evidence of chicken (in 10 samples), beef (in 4 samples), turkey (in 3 samples), and lamb (in 2 samples) in products that were not supposed to contain those ingredients.
Pork is a particularly unwelcome substitution in any food when you consider that significant numbers of people do not eat pork for religious reasons. Clear Food found pork substitution in 3% of the samples we tested. In most cases, pork found its way into chicken and turkey sausages. Pork substitution was an issue in products across the price spectrum being sold at a wide variety of retailers.
While some of these substitutions, hygienic issues, other variances, or off-label ingredients may be permitted by the FDA, our scientific disclosure allows you, as the consumer, to decide whether the variance or problems meet your personal standard in your buying decision.
Clear Food - The Hot Dog Report
Substitution: We encountered a surprising number of substitutions or unexpected ingredients. We found evidence of meats not found on labels, an absence of ingredients advertised on labels, and meat in some vegetarian products.
Hygienic issues: Clear Food found human DNA in 2% of the samples, and in 2/3rds of the vegetarian samples.
We found evidence of chicken (in 10 samples), beef (in 4 samples), turkey (in 3 samples), and lamb (in 2 samples) in products that were not supposed to contain those ingredients.
Pork is a particularly unwelcome substitution in any food when you consider that significant numbers of people do not eat pork for religious reasons. Clear Food found pork substitution in 3% of the samples we tested. In most cases, pork found its way into chicken and turkey sausages. Pork substitution was an issue in products across the price spectrum being sold at a wide variety of retailers.
While some of these substitutions, hygienic issues, other variances, or off-label ingredients may be permitted by the FDA, our scientific disclosure allows you, as the consumer, to decide whether the variance or problems meet your personal standard in your buying decision.
Clear Food - The Hot Dog Report
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