Well, I just looked up Ballpark Beef Franks (I’ll ignore the weirdly homoerotic subtext of their ads) and here are the ingredients:
BEEF, WATER, CORN SYRUP, SALT, POTASSIUM LACTATE, FLAVORINGS, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), SODIUM NITRITE, EXTRACTIVES OF PAPRIKA.
Here’s the Morningstar ingredient list:
Wheat gluten, water, corn syrup solids, salt, dextrose, egg whites solids. Contains 2% or less of carrageenan, hydrolyzed corn, soy, and wheat protein, brown sugar, natural flavors from non-meat sources, torula yeast, spices, soy protein isolate, onion powder, garlic powder, natural smoke flavor, hydrolyzed torula and brewer’s yeast protein, cellulose gum, soy fiber, autolyzed yeast extract, paprika for color, xanthan gum, disodium guanylate, disodium inosinate, potassium chloride, red #3 and blue #1 for color.
The egg whites probalby really help with the protein.
You know, one thing I didn’t realize before when I got the data off the USDA database, 153 of the 188 calories from the beef frank are from FAT. That’s an awful lot.