A hot dog by any other name ...

Assembly Bill 1252, introduced in the Legislature last month, isn't the kind of proposal that will get much attention. It further describes safe food-handling practices by restaurants and mobile vendors, including things such as the use of single-use plastic gloves and hand-washing techniques. It defines what constitutes a service dog that would be allowed in a public eating place.

The bill, which came out of the Assembly Health Committee, zeroes in on the kind of limited food preparation for mobile vendors. And in doing so, according to Capitol Alert, it does something that the state Health and Safety Code doesn't otherwise do — define a hot dog. The proposed wording: " 'Hot dog' means a whole, cured, cooked sausage that is skinless or stuffed in a casing, that may be known as a frankfurter, frank, furter, wiener, red hot, Vienna, bologna, garlic bologna or knockwurst, and that may be served in a bun or roll."