Maine
The secret plan to save Maine’s iconic red hot dogs after federal dye ban
Maine’s last red snapper maker is changing the recipe for its iconic hot dogs after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned a key dye the company uses to give the sausages their distinctive color.
The FDA is banning the use of red dye No. 3 in foods, drinks and medications. The synthetic dye is often used to give products a bright, cherry-red color and was linked more than 30 years ago to cancer in animals.
In November 2022, roughly two dozen advocacy organizations and individuals filed a petition to ban the dye, according to the FDA.
W.A. Bean & Sons, the lone remaining Maine-based company that makes the bright hot dogs often called “red snappers,” uses red dye No. 3 along with red dye No. 40 and yellow dye No. 6, according to the package.
The company expected the FDA to eventually ban the ingredient, said Sean Smith, W.A. Bean & Sons’ sales director. Because of this, the business has been exploring ways to make red snappers without the artificial additive while keeping the color and taste identical, Smith said.
“We’ve done test batches already and we expect to have something ready very soon,” Smith said. “We’ve survived multiple world wars and depressions and our red hot dogs aren’t going anywhere.”
Smith declined to share further details on how the secret recipe for red hot dogs will change.
The FDA’s ban comes at a time when W.A. Bean & Sons is seeing sales of the iconic red snappers soar. The company now makes an estimated 650,000 to 700,000 pounds of red dogs annually, compared with the 400,000 pounds they made a decade ago, Smith previously told the Bangor Daily News.
The hot dogs are often called “red snappers” due to the thick casing that gives the sausages their distinctive “snap” when you bite into them. The product has joined the ranks of blueberries, lobster and whoopie pies as an iconic Maine food, despite other states having hot dogs with a similar hue or snappy consistency.
Food manufacturers have until Jan. 15, 2027, to stop using red dye No. 3 in products while drug manufacturers have until Jan. 18, 2028, according to the FDA. Other countries that allow the ingredient will have to comply with FDA rules if products are imported to the U.S.
W.A. Bean & Sons’ foresight is good news for Simones’ Hot Dog Stand in Lewiston, where red snappers have been a top-selling item throughout its 117-year history, according to owner Jim Simones.
“We’ve been in business since 1908 and we’re synonymous with the red dogs,” Simones said. “We sell beef dogs too, but red dogs are the most popular.”
When tourists stumble upon red hot dogs at Simones’ stand, they often question what gives them their glaring reddish-pink color. But, once customers try them, they usually find they like the sausages, Simones said.
“I tell them they’re just like our lobsters — when we put them in boiling water, they turn red,” Simones said.
Simones was pleased to hear W.A. Bean & Sons is finalizing a red hot dog recipe that doesn’t use the outlawed dye but will keep the product’s color the same.
“It’s unique to Maine,” he said of the snappers. “You can’t lose that red.”
Many Maine municipalities will open cooling centers this week with the National Weather Service issuing a variety of heat advisories covering the next few days.
The Maine DEP also issued an air quality alert for Wednesday with ground-level ozone expected to reach levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups.
All of York County, interior Cumberland and Androscoggin counties, and the southern half of Oxford County will fall under an extreme heat warning from 11 a.m. Wednesday to 8 p.m. Friday.
The warning calls for “dangerously hot conditions” that could feature heat index values of up to 110 degrees, with overnight lows only expected to fall into the 70s, according to the weather service’s office in Gray.
The rest of the state — save northern Aroostook, Piscataquis and Somerset counties — falls under a heat advisory from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday. However, the weather service has also placed much of the state under an extreme heat watch for Thursday.
Heat index values, which measure how hot it feels to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature, are expected to reach up to 104 degrees during the heat advisory period, the weather service warns. They could reach 110 degrees Thursday, when the extreme heat watch is in effect.
Northern Oxford and Franklin counties, and central Somerset County, can expect a heat index value of up to 99 degrees Wednesday, according to the weather service.
The weather service advises people to drink plenty of fluids, stay in air-conditioned rooms when possible, avoid extended periods in the sun and check up on relatives and neighbors. It also warns not to leave young children and pets in unattended vehicles, as “car interiors will reach lethal temperatures in a matter of minutes.”
Cooling Centers
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has also issued an air quality alert from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Wednesday along the coast from Kittery to Acadia National Park. The agency warns that ground-level ozone concentrations are expected to reach levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Ozone levels may reach “moderate levels” further inland, according to the Maine DEP, including in all of Androscoggin and Kennebec counties, as well as parts of Cumberland, Knox, Lincoln, Penobscot, Sagadahoc, Waldo, Washington and York counties.
Elevated ozone levels can pose a risk to children, older adults and people suffering from respiratory or heart diseases, according to the Maine DEP. Anyone exerting themselves outdoors may also experience health effects, which could include coughing, shortness of breath, throat irritation and mild chest pain.
Ozone levels were already climbing in southern New England on Tuesday, according to the Maine DEP, and winds are expected to bring those conditions to Maine on Wednesday.
The Maine DEP recommends that vulnerable populations avoid strenuous outdoor activities, keep windows closed, and circulate indoor air with fans or air conditioners. Those with asthma are also advised to keep quick-relief medication handy.
Particle pollution levels are also expected to be moderate across the state on Wednesday due to wildfire smoke, the Maine DEP said in its announcement Tuesday. Wildfires in Colorado, which have claimed the lives of three firefighters, had burned nearly 90,000 acres as of Tuesday, according to the Denver Post.
Maine could face up to $50 million in penalties next year due to errors in its payments for federal food benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Newly released data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture find that Maine’s error rate last year was nearly 11%, the bulk of which were overpayments. That’s in line with the U.S. average. But starting in October of next year, states with error rates above 6% must cover a portion of the SNAP benefits.
Anna Korsen, executive director of Full Plates, Full Potential, said the overpayments aren’t fraud — they’re human error. She said this new cost-shifting policy enacted last year under the Trump administration further complicates the SNAP application process.
“Instead, we could make this program more accessible and more efficient,” Korsen said. “And that would reduce the number of errors and also ensure that Mainers who are eligible for SNAP have access to it.”
She’s urging Congress to delay or reverse the policy under the farm bill that’s currently under consideration.
Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services said it’s taking steps to reduce the error rate, including modernizing its systems and hiring an additional 40 eligibility specialists.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
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