From the reader mailbag: Hot dogs - what's a girl to do?

A devoted reader wrote to me today with a question. So, it isn't technically a 'mail bag' query, but it seems like it could be, you know, if I had a mass of people reading this blog and I talked more about a 'mail bag' from which I answered questions. So, I'm going with it. Thanks, devoted reader, for your question!

Which is:

"Do you ever eat hot dogs? I have developed a new passion for them this summer. However, now I am freaked out about nitrites - a preservative/additive found in processed means, especially hot dogs. what's a girl to do? have you ever given this matter any thought?"

I'll admit, I had never given this matter much thought despite the fact that nitrites (and nitrates for that matter) probably make a regular appearance in my lunch in the form of lunch meat in my turkey wraps.

I agree - hot dogs are great. While I usually stick to chicken sausages in meals I make at home (chx sausage pasta is a staple and a great way to use a ton of vegetables, too), I do like grabbing a hot dog at a baseball game and at Costco after a hard couple hours of large cart maneuvering and bulk buying mania.

What about buying Kosher hot dogs?

On second thought, I'm not seeing any difference between the amount of sodium nitrite in Kosher hot dogs vs. the Oscar Mayer kind.

I guess if sodium nitrite <2%, then at absolute most, you are consuming ~1.5 grams of sodium nitrite for an Oscar Mayer jumbo dog or ~1 gram of sodium nitrite in a Hebrew National Kosher regular size dog. So, the question is how much sodium nitrite is too much? The Cancer Prevention Coalition suggests that children and expectant mothers not consume more than 12 nitrite hot dogs per month. Assuming they are referring to regular-sized hot dogs, this means that 12 grams of sodium nitrite per month would be the limit. There may be other sources that say something different...

The idea of nitrate and nitrite-free hot dogs came up in my 30 seconds of Google research, but some parents commenting on a post on Serious Eats had some suggestions. The comments suggest an expensive alternative, Niman Farms Fearless Franks, which when priced out are basically $1.50 each (which to me, would decrease the deliciousness of the dog).

So what is the solution here? Not sure. In looking into this, I've learned that nitrites are used in all kinds of meats - lunch meats caught my eye. I think our options are:

1. I did find out that the chicken sausages I've been mixing in with pasta or having in place of a brat are 100% nitrite and nitrate free. So, maybe these are a substitute.
2. Eat less than 12 hot dogs per month (or in my lunch meat-concentrated case, eat less than 12 number of servings of lunch meat per month).
3. Eat a mix of the two.
4. Realize that we made it out of childhood just fine having consumed our fair share of hot dogs and not worry about it.

I think I'll go for 3 with a pinch of 4. Thoughts?