Designing a Choke-free Hot Dog

http://www.fastcompany.com/1564477/oh-i-wish-i-weren-t-an-oscar-meyer-weiner?partner=homepage_newsletter

by robg • 16 years ago

25 15 16 years ago

vital101• 16 years ago

All jokes aside, I didn't realize that there was actually a hot dog choking problem. I can't say I wouldn't give a "choke free" hot dog a try though. Eating a coil of meat could be fun.

jrmurad• 16 years ago

The only student I know to have died on campus during my K-12 education was a middle schooler who choked on a hot dog in the cafeteria.

graywh• 16 years ago

Small children are the most at risk for choking on things like hot dogs and grapes.

bpyne• 16 years ago

Yes. It's why pediatricians recommend cutting hot dogs and grapes into pieces about half the size of your thumb nail for toddlers.

As cautious as my wife and I are, redesigning a hot dog seems absurd as long as you follow the pediatrician's recommendation. While day care providers know the recommendation already it's necessary to let the grandparents know if they care for your child.

ZeroGravitas• 16 years ago

Turn them into meat-based cephalopods with Octodog

http://www.octodog.net/

fragmede• 16 years ago

How about jumbo franks? I can't see a 4 yr old could swallow without chewing first, at which point, it is chewed into smaller bits and thus no choking.

Alternately, an accordion-like zig-zag groove lengthwise (like a line of ketchup/mustard) could ensure a piece that was lodged was not wider than each groove, and thus would be unstable enough to not block the airway.

alilja2• 16 years ago

I feel like this is another attempt of humans to avoid natural selection.

alilja2• 16 years ago

Now I feel like a dick, re: the post above me.

baddspellar• 16 years ago

There's a good article on stats.org that examines the statistics and concludes that this whole thing, as with many public health stories, is overblown: http://stats.org/stories/2010/choking_hot_dog_feb23_10.html

The key finding: "it is reasonable to assume, based on this data, that the number of children who die from choking on hot dogs is somewhere between 1.5 and 5 per year in the United States. The risk is overwhelmingly to children aged three and under, based on the natural tendency of infants to put stuff in their mouths. While each death is a terrible tragedy, it is not clear that this is something that this amounts to a “significant and unacceptable choking hazard” to the public warranting recall procedures, product changes and more warnings than already exist. The problem with the American Academy of Pediatrics paper is that it uses percentages without the context of frequency, so that you end up comparing percentage fatalities for widely different time periods without any indication of the actual number of deaths."

ryanhuff• 16 years ago

My son (3 years old at the time) choked on a hot dog while at an amusement park. My wife was unsuccessful at dislodging it, but luckily, somebody near by helped her out. The whole episode lasted around 30 seconds. Scary stuff for my wife (I wasn't there).

Son ended up going to the hospital. Now (age 5), we cut his hot dogs lengthwise before serving, but he had a couple of choking episodes while eating other things (grapes).

ktsmith• 16 years ago

I'd be much more interested to know how many parents of children that have died from choking were trained in CPR techniques. I would be willing to bet that almost none of them were. Having a one year old and having had to clear his airway once myself and having watched my wife do it twice, I find it appalling that more people don't bother with this type of training. It doesn't take long, isn't expensive, and can save not only the life of your own child but the life of someone else as well. Even with the appropriate training you won't always be successful and a 911 call may be necessary, but being able to try to clear the airway while you wait several minutes for responders to arrive can mean the difference between life, death, and brain damage from lack of oxygen.

lhorie• 16 years ago

Given that the rate of deaths atributed to diet-related conditions is several orders of magnitude higher, I think this is trying to optimize for the wrong metric.

eplanit• 16 years ago

Given that the root cause of nearly all the world's problems is over-population, we should recognize that we need to build _more_ opportunities for "Darwinian Correction" into society. So leave the Hot Dog alone, and leave the Golden Gate Bridge alone. :-)

mcantor• 16 years ago

I feel like this post, the essay on the phrase "it turns out," and the post on eating slower to reduce caloric intake, all showed up at the same time for a reason.

"It turns out, eating slower will help you avoid choking on hot dogs, too."

jsz0• 16 years ago

How about parents just not be idiots and cut the hot dog up into small pieces for their children? The fact this is even an issue just shows how much common sense we've lost as a species. It's much better for parents to have the burden of responsibility than relying on the entire food industry to cater to their needs. Personally I don't think the food industry should be obligated to help parents be dumber and less engaged in their children's safety. If someone makes a "kid safe hotdog" will people buy it? Absolutely. My concern is it makes parents less aware of other risks of choking if they have an expectation that any food item for children has no choking risks. That is impossible. If your child scarfs down food without chewing they can choke on almost anything. As a parent it's your obligation and responsibility to prevent it.

Designing a Choke-free Hot Dog

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