New Study Says 10 Percent of Veggie Dogs Contain Meat

A new comprehensive report about hot dogs compiled by Clear Food—a food analysis firm whose mission is to “reveal the whole story, the one behind the label”—discovered that 10 percent of vegetarian sausages and hot dogs contain meat. The report also states that meat-based sausages (referred to “the world’s original mystery meat”) are equally guilty in terms of off-label ingredients. By testing 345 hot dog samples from 75 brands, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian, and 10 retailers on a molecular-ingredient level, the company found that 14.4 percent of all products contained off-label ingredients—such as chicken in vegetarian sausages and pork in vegetarian hot dogs—or human DNA. Out of the vegetarian samples tested, Gardein was least problematic while Trader Joe’s Soy Chorizo had the most accurate nutrition label.