World's longest hot dog

The current world's longest hot dog record holder measured 60 m and has been manufactured by Shizuoka Meat Producers of Shizuoka, Japan. Sara Lee Corp. made the world's longest hot dog, at 1,996 feet long (608.4 m), in commemoration of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Guinness World Records does not reflect this record in any of their publications as of 2006. Speculation surrounding the 1,996 ft record is that though the hot dog was most likely continuous, the bun (an integral part of the hot dog unit) was not.

Previous world records

* In 2001 a hot dog and bun measuring 4.65 m (15.25 ft) was made in Pennsylvania to obtain the world record. (need info and citation)
* On July 2 2003 a hotdog (16.1 ft) was made by Vienna Beef and Rosen's Bakery for the Taste of Chicago, in celebration of National Hot Dog Month, to obtain the world record. [http://www.tagrestaurants.com/media_7_3.html]
* On October 18 2003 a hot dog and bun measuring 10.5 m (34.44 ft) was made by students from the University of Pretoria and displayed at the Sonop Hostel, Pretoria, South Africa, to obtain the world record. [http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/07-01-2004/0002204000&EDATE=]
* On July 1 2004 a hot dog and bun measuring 11.33 m (37.2 ft) was made by Vienna Beef and Rosen's Bakery for the Taste of Chicago, in celebration of National Hot Dog Month, to obtain the world record. The bun used more than 200,000 poppy seeds. [http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=News&id=1805816]
* On July 15 2005 a hot dog and bun measuring 15.4 m (50.6 ft) was made for the Great American Hot Dog Festival by Jamie Coyne in Columbus, OH. [http://www.prleap.com/pr/22014/]
* On August 14 2005 a hot dog and bun measuring 17.5 m (57.5 ft) was made by Conshohocken Bakery and Berks Meat Packing for the 20th Annual Corvettes for Kids fundraiser at Bally (USA) to obtain the world record. [http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=53589O]
* On February 20 2006 a hot dog and bun measuring 20 m (65.6 feet) was made by the Department of Sport and Recreation of WA at the Curtin University in Perth to obtain the world record. It required 25 pounds of sausage meat, 33 kilos of dough, 10 liters of tomato sauce and mustard, and "enough onions to fill a Honda Civic." [http://www.abc.net.au/perth/stories/s1580171.htm]
* On July 6 2006, a hot dog and bun measuring 31.9 m (104.75 feet) was made by the Hill Meat Company of Pendleton, OR and Franz Family Bakeries of Portland, OR. The hot dog was made as the central part of a media event surrounding the 100th anniversary of Franz Family Bakeries. [http://www.usbakery.com]

Current world record

On August 4 2006 a hot dog measuring 60m in a bun measuring 60.3m was made by the Shizuoka Meat Producers of Shizuoka, Japan and the [http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/全日本パン協同組合連合会 All-Japan Bread Association] to obtain the world record. International media was onhand, and supporting documents have been verified by Guinness. The hot dog was made as the central part of a media event surrounding the 50th anniversary of the [http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/全日本パン協同組合連合会 All-Japan Bread Association] . The wiener was made offsite at the Shizuoka plant prior to the day, and was then cooked along with the bread in a ballroom at the Akasaka Prince Hotel in Akasaka, Tokyo, Japan. After the official measurement, the hot dog was cut up and eaten by those present. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhJlmerwRNE] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1H1XvKRzH4] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOaqNrkfDoI] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDPJD-df7E4]

Technical challenges

Creating a long hot dog is not much of a feat, as evidenced by the 1,996 foot hot dog created for the 1996 Olympics. This is because the hot dog is structurally quite sound, and remarkably flexible. In the August 2006 record breaking attempt, the hot dog was manufactured by Shizuoka Meat Producers, and wound into a large plastic barrel which was easily transported inside a delivery van.

The limiting factor for breaking this type of record is the bun. The bun, in order to remain in one continuous unit, needs to be baked in its final form. For the All-Japan Bread Association, this meant the connection of the longest conveyor belt possible with the equipment available to them. The dough was assembled in half-meter sections, then pressed together to create a longer tube of dough, which was then fed through the ovens via conveyor, and carried away from the ovens by another conveyor. The key was to make sure that the already-cooked bun did not move at a faster rate than the bun behind it, as this would cause the bun to pull apart. The wiener was fed through the oven at the same time to cook it. There also needed to be space outside the oven to store the bun and wiener until the entire bun had been baked. To allow for enough room for this to happen, the ovens and prep area were set up outside the ballroom of the Akasaka Prince Hotel on the loading dock, and the bun and wiener were fed into the ballroom along the conveyor as they exited the oven.

Upon completion, the bun was sliced down the middle by bakers, and spectators were asked to don rubber gloves and first lift the wiener in one piece for photos, and then insert it into the bun. After being topped with mustard and ketchup, the completed hot dog was lifted by the assembled spectators 30cm off the conveyor for photos. Finally, the official measurement was completed, and the wiener was 60m in length, with the bun coming in at 60.3m in length. After photos and video of the official measurement were completed, the hot dog was cut into sections and the assembled spectators each had a piece. However, this only used about 8m of the hot dog. Presumably, the rest was used later that evening at the All-Japan Bread Association's 50th Anniversary Celebrations.