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Why Are Hot Dogs & Buns Packaged In Different Amounts?

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- It's a great mystery of life, especially around the 4th of July when Americans celebrate by grilling pieces of meat on the barbecue.

Why are there typically 10 hot dogs per pack and only eight buns per bag?

Heather Brown And Hot Dogs
(credit: CBS)

According to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, hot dogs used to be sold at butcher shops in different quantities.

Around 1940 was when hot dogs started to be packaged the way people know it today. That's when manufacturers started to sell ten hot dogs to the pack.

Hot dogs buns, though, were baked in pans that were designed to hold four or eight rolls. That configuration still remains popular to this day.

Some hotdog manufacturers have recognized this dilemma and started to sell in eight-dog packages, but most stay true to the tradition more than a century ago.

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