The kick-off of summer that is Memorial Day weekend could be missing staple of barbecues and picnics. In several states a ton — an actual 2,000-pound ton — of hot dogs were recalled by the Vienna Beef company barely a week before the holiday.
The Chicago-based meat company announced the recall on its website Saturday. They reported the issue to the Food and Drug Administration after becoming aware that 2,030 pounds of franks sold in 10-pound packages had possibly been contaminated with metal. Such an occurrence likely means a piece of equipment at the production plant was found broken after the packages left the building.
The hot dogs in question were sold in supermarkets and smaller grocery stores, including online grocery outlets, throughout Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, according to Vienna Beef’s vice president of marketing Tom McGlade.
Vienna Beef says they were able to account for all the hot dogs in question. However, the USDA recall notice includes verbiage expressing concern that some of the contaminated franks could be in restaurant freezers. So far, no one has received a metal-laced hot dog on their plate.
A Long History
Vienna Beef is a 126-year-old company known for its Chicago-style frankfurters.
It’s certainly unfortunate for the Vienna Beef company that the contamination wasn’t discovered before a recall was necessary. But, Americans are lucky that when it comes to hot dogs, there’s no shortage of options.
In fact, America has so many different, popular hot dog brands that rankings are published by hungry hot dog connoisseurs who give their opinions on what’s America’s best hot dog. The specific brand may vary from Ballpark to Hebrew National to Costco’s Kirkland hot dogs and everything in between, but one thing stands true… The all-beef hot dog is the consistently beloved frank around the 50 states.
Now, after all this hot dog talk, we just have one question: Is it grilling time yet?
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