MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguay Guinness record with largest open-air barbecue

Mercosur country member Paraguay broke the Guinness World Record Sunday October 26 for the world's largest one day open-air barbecue.

In total, some 30,000 participants consumed 28 kilo tons of meat over the course of six hours in the Mariano Roque Alonso town-ship located on the outskirts of the capital Asuncion. "All of the food that was there was eaten. It's the largest quantity of meat that has been eaten at one event held on one day. It's an official record, a Guinness World Record, and Paraguay will be in the next edition," Guinness World Records Judge Ralph Hannah said before handing out the official Guinness award certificates. In attaining the "Biggest Barbecue in the World" record, the Paraguayan town shatters the previous record, an eight-hour chow of 21.7 kilo tons that took place in Philadelphia in 1996. Proceeds from the three dollar entrance fees are being directed to the ASOLEU Children's Leukemia Foundation. Paraguay and neighboring Argentina and Brazil, and Uruguay, have some of the best natural grasslands in the world and the joint cattle and sheep herds and flocks are well over 220 million head.