Quickly and inexpensively grabbing a bite in the city is now possible almost everywhere, but on highways it's not so simple. Roadside restaurants often skimp on ingredients, and you also have to wait quite a long time for your order. So the vast majority of motorists prefer to stop at a gas station, where you can "refuel" your stomach while the car is being refueled. This is already a "must have" of the market, and even retailers like ANP, which previously didn't bother with additional services, are paying more and more attention to food. Market leaders, in turn, pay special attention to the place of hot dogs on the menu, expanding it with new flavors like "Danish" at OKKO, "Horse Meat" at BRSM, and "Italian" with pesto sauce at WOG. Specialists from the capital's Institute of Consumer Expertise have repeatedly checked the quality of hot dogs at gas stations, and the results were generally pleasing. But how are things with quality now?
Ten popular gas station chains were tested. Experts purchased hot dogs and sent them to the state laboratory of Ukrmetrteststandart and to tasting commissions. As a result, the picture was very different from the previous study - now there is no clear leader, the chains have significantly improved quality and recipes, receiving very high scores. The "champions" group included "OKKO", "WOG", "BRSM-Nafta", "KLO", "Shell", "Amic", SOCAR, while in the middle of the peloton were "Parallel", ANP, and Marshal.
In the laboratory
The sausages in hot dogs must be of the highest grade, so they were also tested in the laboratory for compliance with standards for this type. According to the standard, the mass fraction of moisture in such products should be no more than 75%, and all study participants met this figure with a margin. Tests were also conducted for the presence of starch - and again, everything was in order for all subjects. These results indicate a serious selection of meat product suppliers, particularly sausages, at gas stations.
While tests for moisture and starch content indicate the quality of the hot dog components themselves, tests for microflora more indicate how clearly the seller maintains sanitary and hygienic standards for product storage. They checked for the amount of MAFAM and the presence of coliforms. The results were excellent for everyone, indicating a high-quality logistics and storage system.
Hot dogs for gourmets
After experts found that the hot dogs are made of meat and won't cause digestive problems, the commission proceeded to the main part - tasting. A hot dog is an assembled product, so not only the set of ingredients is important, but also the organic and tasty combination of the bun, sausage, and condiments.
Both professional tasters and "people's" testers, ordinary motorists, tried the "hot dogs". They were rated on a 10-point scale in both cases. Not everyone received high scores this time either. The tasters lowered scores for "SOCAR" for the bland taste and quality of the buns, which crumble a lot and have no crust. Also, "Marshall" and "ANP" didn't reach high scores; the sausages in these chains' hot dogs had an unexpressed meaty taste, and the tasters were also dissatisfied with the quality of the condiments (mayonnaise and mustard).
But the main group received almost ten-point scores for equally excellent taste of both the sausages and the hot dog buns. "OKKO" and "WOG" traditionally received high scores, and "BRSM-Nafta" hot dogs noticeably improved, which also put them on the champions' podium.
Results
The study showed that the assortment of hot dogs at gas stations is very wide, and the quality is excellent. Only the highest grade, natural sausages with various recipes are used. The service at all is also excellent - all types of sausages are almost always available, and the cooking process itself takes just a few minutes. Moreover, at "OKKO" and "WOG", separate employees handle this, saving the customer time. During the work, experts also found out that almost all operators buy sausages for hot dogs from one company - "PremierFood", which owns the Mr.Grill brand, and the sausages are made at the Tulchyn meat processing plant.
Vasyl Denysenko
