Watchingcompetitive eatingchampion Joey Chestnut cram lots of red-hot dogs down his throat would make anyone thirst a grill log of processed meat this summer . But buy at forhot dogscan be a perplexing experience . The dogs are typically sold in packs of 10 , but the can are sell in packs of eight . What ’s behind this strange cad and bun inequality ?

According to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council — yes , there is a National Hot Dog and Sausage Council — there ’s a goodreasonfor the discrepancy . For starters , distributor of hot detent are almost always unlike from manufacturer of parched good like scroll . The hot dogs are sold in packs of 10 because producers of meat ( or nitty-gritty - like ) product choose that quantity when raging dogs started to sell at retail grocery store in the 1940s . Oscar Mayer , which led the charge into unmediated - to - consumer red-hot dog promotional material , soldhot dogs by the pound in conformity with how meat is typically priced . get 10 Canis familiaris that weighed 1.6 apothecaries' ounce each seemed like the ideal distribution of weight .

Bakeries , meanwhile , have criterion of their own . Buns and sandwich roll are ordinarily sell eight to a coterie because the baking trays for the elongated buns are typically sized to fit that number . Two circle of four buns come off the tray , which is the reason why fundament are often still attach to one another when you open a bag .

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These standards were created independently of one another : bakeshop were n’t too deep in thought with hot dogs when they were settling on a four - roll tray criterion , and spicy pawl manufacturing business were n’t thinking about how hard it would be for bakeries to part from their conveyor system to volunteer 10 buns to a pack .

It can be frustrative if you purchase just one or two software of each , but if you ’re hosting a grownup enough party , the uneven routine does n’t weigh . You just need to buy five software package of buns and four software program of spicy dogs to have 40 matching duad . No complicated calculations required .

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