Hi Ray,

Have you considered submitting this to any of the EN searches?

I caught a video of your product in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l9LfHLehCs

Just a few thoughts….

First, congrats on a product that appears to work as claimed, and was apparently designed with good intentions to address choking hazards. And it seems you have discovered some secondary benefits when it comes to nutrition.

First impressions for me are that there are an awful lot of pieces (diamond, tube, etc.) and that this requires a fairly decent bit of prep time.

It will most certainly come down to perceived risk. For me personally, I do not perceive a great risk when it comes to my children and hot dogs as a choking hazard. But then again, others may very well disagree and for them the time and extra effort will be no problem. I personally think the real potential here sits in a new hot dog that incorporates the collapsing core into the design.

When it comes to nutrition, that is also a personal preference. I know some parents who figure that an occasional hot dog is not a problem. While others are very aware of food labels and hot dogs never even make it to the grocery cart. I am sort of middle of the road and prefer the Oscar Mayer 100% Angus with no nitrates.

One thing is certain Ray…you are in the right place! You will find a lot of great advice here. Good Luck with your quest and congratulations on a very noble cause.

Maybe try licensing the idea to someone. Like Papa Jim said it may be a better way to manufacture a new hot dog, if you can prove the healthiness then possibly licensing the idea to a company that manufactures… Here is a link, I don’t know if it is what you need or not, but you could try calling the owners and see… http://www.thomasnet.com/compsearch.html?cov=NA... I hope that you have a ppa or patent as well. Hope this may help and best to you! Do you have an actual machine that makes these hotdogs because Presto may be interested in EN’s searches.

It seems you would be better off by just inventing a hot dog that already has a quarter-inch hole in the middle and which is made with less fat and nitrates. Maybe I’m missing something though (it happens a lot!) I also want to add that the hole in the middle will save kids time and energy when driving a stake through the middle for roasting on a campfire.