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The American Academy of Pediatrics has called for the Food & Drug Administration to require warning labels on certain foods such as hot dogs that are proven to be a choking risk for children or, in lieu of a label, for manufacturers to redesign the food items to minimize the risk.
The academy noted that more than 100 children 14 years old or younger die from choking every year and that 61 of the 141 choking deaths in kids in 2006 were food related.
Besides hot dogs, the academy also cited apples, grapes, raw carrots, hard candies, peanuts, popcorn and marshmallows as creating a high risk for choking and said parents should cut these foods into small pieces to keep them from getting caught in a child's throat.
Hot dog manufacturers -- representing approximately half of the market -- already are labeling their hot dogs as to choking risk, with suggestions that parents remove casings from hot dogs, if present, and cut hot dogs into small pieces before serving them to children, as well as supervise their children's eating behavior, according to National Hot Dog & Sausage Council president Janet Riley.
She said the council is currently producing a consumer video on how to safely prepare hot dogs for children.
Riley, who is senior vice president for public affairs at the American Meat Institute, added that a study on the effectiveness of choking-hazard labels should be conducted before mandating such labels.
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