Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 18, 1990 TAG: 9007180527
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: KIRK SAVILLE Newport News Daily Press
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH (AP) LENGTH: Medium
Every 38 seconds, 58 pounds of the goop, similar in color to a pale pencil eraser, is injected into 210 feet of celluloid casing and a string of 420 young dogs shoots out of a metal arm on the way to being smoked, chilled, peeled, packed, shipped, grilled and smothered with mustard.
Up to 20 million wieners of various sizes, colors and ingredients are produced at the Gwaltney of Smithfield Ltd. plant here each week. It adds up to about 830 million dogs every year.
Frankly speaking, that translates to 138 hot dogs a year for each Virginian. Lined up end to end, Gwaltney's annual wiener production could circle the Earth three times with enough left over for a trip to San Francisco.
It would take nearly 5 billion inches of buns to cover the dogs.
Now company officials are relishing the thought of increasing production to as many as 1 billion franks next year. A 10,000-square-foot expansion, completed last month, has enabled Gwaltney to increase its production at what company officials believe is the largest frankfurter factory in the world.
At a recent ceremony marking the opening of the new area, Portsmouth Mayor Gloria Webb praised the Gwaltney dogs. "I eat about 20 pounds a week, myself," she said with a smile.
Sound like baloney? Well, Gwaltney's got that too, producing 84,000 to 90,000 pounds of bologna a day at the Portsmouth plant.
Gwaltney moved into the factory 15 years ago. After July 4, 1980, all Gwaltney hot dog production was switched from Smithfield to the Portsmouth plant.
In all, 84 different types and flavors of hot dogs are produced at the plant. Brand names include Big 8 and Olde Smithfield as well as Luter Old Fashioned and Esskay dogs.
"These are all unique," said Gregory Kopsch, vice president of sales and marketing for Gwaltney of Smithfield. "We don't just put another wrapper around the same hot dog."
More than 300 employees work in the chilly plant. Most of the plant is kept at about 42 degrees, and workers, dressed in pale blue lab coats, wear sweatshirts with hoods pulled up over the hard hats.
Stainless steel grinders, stuffers, peelers and conveyors are everywhere. The concrete floors are slick with water and fat.
A hot dog's life begins with an initial grinding. Beef, pork and chicken, depending on the type of frank, is ground in huge blenders until it is the consistency of ground beef.
Plant Manager Stuart Shepherd pulled back the covering on a large cardboard box revealing slabs of chuck steak. "See what hot dogs are made of," he said. "People say they're made with all sorts of things. This is what they're made of."
Gwaltney also makes dogs out of pork and chicken. Poultry franks represent one of the fastest-growing parts of the hot dog market. "Poultry has got the consumers' eye and ear," Kopsch said.
The dogs are packaged and sent into cold storage before being shipped to their ultimate destinations of grills, saucepans and barbecues across the eastern United States.
by CNB