I would always stop at a small gas station near our Shenzhen office, and while the hot dogs weren't great, I learned more from the roller grill than I did from the hot dogs themselves. A roller grill is designed so that each roller moves with even consistency and with no pooling of grease at the edges. If that does happen, stay away from the hot dogs! So, too, if the toppings look dried out or like they've been under the lights too long, it's better to just walk away. Getting food quality and equipment and service is like that at SourcingXpro, if suppliers cut corners on the small details, you can end up sourcing products and facilitating returns worth thousands! Food safety is like that too! The small red flags are most often the best warning — it may cost you more to not pay attention to them and walk away!
Gas station roller dogs are subjected heat lamps for hours and often rotate through multiple heating cycles before a sale. The longer they stay on those rollers, the dryer and tougher the casing becomes. Watch for shriveled skins and split ends because those dogs have been there too long, drying out and losing flavor. Roller grills usually run at varying temperatures, and some operators do not clean the grills properly between batches. Residues build up on rollers, creating off flavors, and the growth of bacteria becomes a real risk. Toppings that sit in open containers without temperature control are another issue. Chili and cheese need to stay above 140-degree Fahrenheit to be safe, and onions or sauerkraut, even when refrigerated, can go bad quickly in warm air After decades of dealing with temperature-sensitive meats, and understanding how equipment can negatively affect quality of meat, when time and temperatures have been abused, I see the product visibly. Look with your eyes and smell with your nose before you buy. If the roller dogs look shriveled and dried out, or the condiment station looks suspect, just walk away. Nobody is paying attention to expiration dates on wrappers, trust your gut and you will end up in better shape.