Pediatricians Call For Choke-Proof Hot Dogs

RendonWI writes "Nutritionists have long warned of the perils of hot dogs: fat, sodium and preservatives to name a few. Now, the American Academy of Pediatrics wants foods like hot dogs to come with a warning label not because of their nutritional risks but because they pose a choking hazard to babies and children."

Re:Since this is such a widespread problem...

[Cathoderoytube]

No. Strangely it's only hot dogs. If you look back through history nobody has ever choked to death on anything until hot dogs were invented. Some say it was a plot by the government to eliminate the game of baseball.

More nanny state.

[InsaneProcessor]

These are things that we would never know without our government point it out: coffee is hot, fast food is fattening and blocks arteries, cigarettes causes lung disease, and now....young children and choke on food.

Re:Since this is such a widespread problem...

[natehoy]

I was thinking the same thing. This sounds like the DHMO ban.

Sure, you can choke on a hot dog. You can also choke on hamburger, bread, apple, celery, ice, grapes, peas, corn, banana, fish, and, well, almost any other food out there including applesauce and water (although applesauce and especially water are somewhat lower risk, but still quite possible).

Oblig. car analogy: It's not necessary to point out the danger of hot dogs specifically as a choke hazard any more than you need to tell pedestrians that blue cars are a specific hazard at crosswalks and to pay special attention when you see a blue car. ALL cars are a hazard at crosswalks if you don't pay attention.

This will become a new California-style labeling law, where EVERYTHING is:

  - A choke hazard when not chewed properly, that
  - contains chemicals suspected of causing cancer in greater molluscs and emus, which
  - may contain peanut or tree nut oils or have come into contact with machinery that was made of metal that may have reflected the image of a peanut from less than 12 miles away at some point.

At some point, we have to take the obvious as the obvious. Kid puts food in mouth that is large enough that they need to chew it, does not chew it, gets it into throat, it sticks in place. This is an inevitable outcome and there is nothing more or less inherently dangerous about hot dogs that is not also present in the vast majority of foods out there. Label everything and the warning becomes meaningless.

I'm not saying we should ignore unusual dangers to specific foods. Peanut allergies are real, and foods that contain "hidden" peanuts should be labeled. Peanut butter and salted peanuts should not (inherently obvious), but something that contains peanut products that doesn't have the word "peanut" in the name is a valid candidate for a warning label. Same with tree nuts, phenylalanine, and other specific allergies that real people have and which can be triggered by non-obvious ingredients.

But the obvious dangers should be covered by simple observation. Salted roasted peanuts contain peanuts. No warning required.

If a food item is larger than the diameter of a constricted throat (in other words, if it HAS a diameter) then it's a choke hazard unless chewed properly. Feed your kid everything in the form of smoothies, or learn the Heimlich, teach them to eat, and pay attention until they are old enough to learn that "chew" isn't just the sound a train makes.