The food department at the New York Times recently taste-tested 10 hot dog brands to determine the best.

Koegel franks and Viennas from Flint were not on the list.

Now that’s what I call fake news.

I’m sorry to use a Trump term like that, especially a bogus one, but my buns are steamed about this. How could the best newspaper in the land not only not rank Koegel atop its list but not even test them in the first place? That’s outrageous. Oscar Mayer dogs were on the list. (Ick.) Trader Joe’s dogs were on the list. (Dog food.) Nathan’s was on the list. (Cat food.) Hebrew Nationals were on the list. (OK, those are acceptable but only with lots of mustard.)

But no Koegel.

And they call themselves a newspaper. OK, maybe — since Koegel isn’t yet a national brand, far as I know — the Times’ grillers simply didn’t know about them.

Whatever the case, as someone who has dined on Koegel’s delights for more than 25 years, I immediately posted the Times story to my Facebook feed, knowing the local outrage that would ensue.

“SERIOUSLY??!!!” one person responded. “What’s a taste test without the best hot dog in the world?”

“They’re clueless!” said another.

“It’s New York,” said a third. “They prefer the mystery meat they call a hot dog.”

“My relatives from Texas come up every year for Christmas and they take back a case of Koegel’s with them. They have all their friends in Texas hooked on them now,” said one more.

One woman added this story: “When I lived in the east, they did not know about Koegels. I would come to Michigan and buy a case on dry ice and haul them home. At parties people raved about how good they were and where could they buy them. No doubt they are the best, but I think they remain the best because it is family owned and controlled with family pride keeping them the same quality we have always come to expect. Some say they are not really hot dogs, they are Koegel’s, a product in a class by itself.”

I heartily agree. I think it IS the family’s focus on quality that keeps Koegel’s the best.

And how do I know they’re the best?

Simple. Because I don’t like hot dogs. When I contemplate eating one, my brain inevitably conjures some vague, fuzzy memory of the horrible things that are supposed to be in them. Or were, anyway, at some point. You probably have similar thoughts. If you didn’t, they wouldn’t have started putting “all beef!” and “nitrates-free” on the packaging.

But I don’t have those thoughts when eating a Koegel. I trust them. And it may sound silly but that trust somehow makes the dog taste even better. (I like mine with mustard and onions, by the way. No ketchup. Never ketchup.)

If you agree, perhaps you might want to leave a comment beneath the online version of the story, which you can find at www.nytimes.