What exactly is in a corn dog?

Many people have likely asked this question, many unaware of the exact ingredients that go into the iconic fair food.

However, at the Minnesota State Fair, the question is being taken a lot more seriously as a new attraction looks to do something unprecedented: perform a gene sequencing of a corn dog.

Beth Thielen, Assistant Professor in the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, and Christopher Faulk, Associate Professor of Functional Genomics in the Department of Animal Science, are the ones behind the event.

The two are hoping it will draw attention to gene sequencing and their study of emerging respiratory disease trends.

Using a portable sequencing device the size of a Snickers bar plugged into a laptop, they will analyze the genetic makeup of the corn dog and predict the presence of corn and beef DNA.

For more on KSTP’s full coverage of the Minnesota State Fair CLICK HERE.