Allergies: Soy-free Hot Dogs

There are certain "all-American" foods that just can't be thrown out of our culture. There's sweet tea in the summer, turkey at Thanksgiving (although we don't eat it), hamburgers at a cookout, and a hot dog at the ballpark.

I used to hate eating a hot dog. I'd cover mine in ketchup in order to choke it down (after asking the cook to char it on the grill; yeah, I know now that wasn't a healthy option!).

I grew to like hot dogs and wanted to be okay with serving them to my daughter. After a little research and looking, I found a type of hot dog that she can eat!

According to government regulations, all beef hot dogs can't have any fillers, such as soy. For all the other researchers out there, I bet you'd find the government information page (USDA, hot dogs) about hot dogs interesting.

When I'm buying my hot dogs, this is what I'd ideally buy:
- uncured
- all beef
- grass fed beef
It's usually hard to find grass fed beef hot dogs, though. Uncured means that it doesn't have nitrites. There's been debate over whether nitrites cause cancer. I don't have the answer for that, but, I choose to buy uncured since they taste as good and might be a healthier option. Random sites about nitrites: NIH and UMN.

Curious what's in you hot dogs? Try to guess which hot dog has which ingredients, all beef, frank, organic all beef, fat free. I'm not sure which scares me most, fat free or frank?????

1. BEEF, WATER, CORN SYRUP, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS: SALT, POTASSIUM LACTATE, BEEF STOCK, SODIUM PHOSPHATES, FLAVORINGS, SODIUM DIACETATE, SODIUM ERYTHORBATE, ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), SODIUM NITRITE, EXTRACTIVES OF PAPRIKA.

2. BEEF, BEEF BROTH, WATER, CORN SYRUP, MODIFIED CORN STARCH*, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: POTASSIUM LACTATE, SALT, POTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, SODIUM DIACETATE, FLAVORINGS, MALTODEXTRIN, SODIUM ERYTHORBATE, SODIUM NITRITE, EXTRACTIVES OF PAPRIKA. *IN EXCESS OF AMOUNT PERMITTED IN REGULAR FRANKS.

3. ORGANIC BEEF, WATER, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF THE FOLLOWING: SEA SALT, SODIUM LACTATE (FROM BEETS), CELERY POWDER, ORGANIC ONION POWDER, ORGANIC SPICES, ORGANIC PAPRIKA

4. MECHANICALLY SEPARATED TURKEY, PORK, WATER, CORN SYRUP, BEEF, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: SALT, POTASSIUM LACTATE, SODIUM PHOSPHATES, FLAVORINGS, BEEF STOCK, SODIUM DIACETATE, SODIUM ERYTHORBATE, MALTODEXTRIN, SODIUM NITRITE, EXTRACTIVES OF PAPRIKA.

Answers: 1. all beef ball park; 2. fat free all beef ball park; 3. apple gate farms organic beef; 4. ball park franks