And why should I care that they do?
And you shouldn’t care. Nonsensical sales pitch. Same reason you shouldn’t care that McDonald’s shakes are “thick”. You can make hot dogs plump and shakes thick without improving the quality.
It’s all that emulsified mechanically separated chicken GOODNESS trying to escape and overpower your tastebuds with their sheer AWESOMENESS.
Or something like that.
Nice tag line.
Ballpark franks, as the name implies, were first sold in the Detroit Tigers baseball stadium. They need a hot dog that didn’t dry out after prolonged heating so that the dogs were still as juicy in the ninth inning as the first. Something is added to the mix, probably some grain, that absorbs the fat that renders as the hot dog is cooked. This changes the shape of the hot dog somewhat and keeps the fat in the hot dog rather than being lost in the cooking process.
The reason you should care is that the plumping shows that the hot dogs you cook at home are the same as the ones you enjoyed so much at the ballgame.
I read they contain lung parts which are the only meat that plumps when cooked.
You mean the damned things are breathing?
Thanks…now where are the instructions for cleaning coffee out of a keyboard again?
USDA does not allow lung to be sold in the US. Feed lots are quite dusty and tons of shit (lit.) ends up in the lungs of the cattle who spend time there.
Stew made with lung meat (Boetchel, sp?) is a regional delicacy in Austria. I found it quite tasty. Lung is not nearly as strong tasting as say liver or kidney.
The other reason to care is that, if the food is bigger when you eat it, it can help trick you into thinking you ate more.
It’s the same reason so much air is added to weight loss smoothies and low calorie ice cream.
Whereas artichoke is the *real *poor man’s feast : the one food that, when you’re done eating it, there’s more stuff on your plate than when you started 
They’re arroused?