A Massive Highway Food Spill Has People Rubbernecking Online

Imagine you're driving down Interstate 70 in Pennsylvania. You're just southeast outside of Pittsburgh when, in an unfortunate twist of luck, you notice that traffic has come to a standstill. Past the horizon of cars and semi-trucks, you can see the flashing lights of a police car, several emergency vehicles, and a tow truck surrounding an impromptu barricade. Great, you think, there must have been an accident and you're going to be here for a bit.

As the line of cars slowly creeps along the highway, getting you closer and closer to the crash scene, you can't help but take a glance at what sort of accident caused all this backup. You see a tractor-trailer impaled on several trees alongside the road, the trailer itself has smashed to pieces from the impact. What you can't understand, however, is all this weird pink goo oozing out of the busted trailer onto the road. And why does everything suddenly smell like hot dogs?

On May 20, the Rostraver Central Fire Department posted a report on Facebook detailing a crash that occurred at West Mile 43 on Interstate 70. The crash involved a tractor-trailer hauling "meat products" having overturned. While 6 ABC reports that both driver and passenger, fortunately, survived with minor injuries, it was what the truck was carrying that got people talking.  The truck's cargo was "hot dog filler," the stuff that is piped into casings to make the kind of hot dogs you may have eaten on Memorial Day.

ABC 7 New York posted details of the crash on their Twitter feed, where the comment section quickly became filled with reactions of disgust, shock, and laughter at the bizarre road accident. One commenter, for example, posted an image of the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile as the "ambulance" — although another commenter joked that it should be called the "hambulance." Some even posted pictures of competitive eater Joey Chestnut, who is known for his astounding hot dog-eating records, hurrying to help clean up the meaty mess.

Just what is hot dog filler anyway? The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council describes the filler as an "emulsion" of meats and curing ingredients ground into a slurry or a "batter," which is then pumped into casings to be smoked, cooked, and flavored. The Humane League, however, is a bit less kind to hot dog filler, listing off a wide variety of chemicals and additives such as MSG, internal organs, and even antibiotics.

This isn't the first type of bizarre and comedic crashes that have happened recently. On May 16th, a crash in Texas spilled 35,000 pounds of eggs onto the interstate. In January, a truck in Pennsylvania carrying research monkeys crashed in Montour County, causing several primates to escape (via NBC News). Fortunately, all monkeys were later accounted for, without any incidents of anyone "going bananas."