Should Hot Dogs Carry Warning Label for Kids?

Feb. 22, 2010— -- In mere seconds, a seemingly innocuous piece of food can turn deadly. And Katherine Zuehlke, of Westerville, Ohio, knows firsthand there's nothing more frightening than realizing your child is choking.

Over Christmas, the Zuehlkes had a scare when their nearly 2-year-old daughter, Tiffany, began choking on a chocolate-covered peanut.

"She had had them before, but right away her eyes got all big and she had this scared expression on her face, and we knew she was choking," Zuehlke says.

Luckily, Tiffany's parents were able to perform the infant Heimlich maneuver and got Tiffany to cough up the candy before she turned blue or had any permanent damage. The toddler is doing fine, and their house will be free of that candy for some time.

In the United States, approximately one child dies every five days by choking on food -- a rate that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is trying to change.

The AAP released a policy statement today that calls for choking hazard labels on foods that kids might choke on, making a special case for a mandatory warning label on all hot dog packages.

Zuehlke thinks the labels are a good idea. "Parents are so busy, we pick up things and we don't always think twice. If there are warning labels at the grocery store, we may pass on it," she says.

But this is the response hot dog manufacturers might be afraid of: requiring choking warnings on their products may deter consumers from purchasing them at all -- even though this family favorite could be made safe for small children by simply cutting it up properly.