Many in the US would consider a trip to a baseball game without taking a bite of the favourite meat as unthinkable.

An outcry has erupted after the campaign urges teachers and parents to encourage children to make healthy food choices by removing hot dogs and other processed meats from school menus.

The television campaign financed by the Cancer Project, a pro-vegetarian group, has attracted criticism in the US media and the country's food industry.

Nutritionists have now stepped in to defend the hot dog. "My concern about this campaign is it's giving the indication that the occasional hot dog in the school lunch is going to increase cancer risk," said Colleen Doyle, the American Cancer Society's nutrition director.

"An occasional hot dog isn't going to increase that risk," she was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

According to the report, the call to phase out hot dog days comes amid concerns linking hot dogs with colonic cancer. The Cancer Project has stuck by its contention that Americans eat far too much unhealthy and processed meat.