Hamburger Certified As World’S Largest

Thu., Aug. 17, 2000

From Staff

Officials at Guinness World Records have certified that the 6,040-pound burger cooked in this Hi-Line town last year is officially the World’s Largest Hamburger.

Sharon Kindle, who helped form the nonprofit group that oversaw the attempt to make the record books, said the group was notified last week.

The previous record was held by Home of the Hamburger Inc. of Seymour, Wis., which cooked up a 5,520-pound burger on Aug. 5, 1989.

The Saco burger, made from about 17 beef cattle, took about an hour and 40 minutes to cook on Sept. 5, 1999.

Guinness required documentation before verifying the record, including a videotape documenting the processes, from building the grill to serving the hamburger after it was cooked. The three judges who witnessed the feat had to verify the weight of the beef, and a Department of Agriculture official had to confirm that the scale used to weigh the meat had been tested for accuracy.

Kindle said she e-mailed news of the Guinness recognition to the daily newspaper in Seymour, Wis., on Monday, but had not heard back from them. Residents there already had promised to build a bigger burger if Guinness verified that the Saco burger held the world record.

The man who thought up the idea of breaking the Seymour, Wis., record did not live to see its recognition by Guinness. Loran Green died in January of a heart attack.

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