At 31 years old, Gorilla Tango Novelty Meats CEO and Big Hot Dog inventor Dan Abbate holds the Guinness World Record for the largest hot dog commercially available.

The Big Hot Dog weighs 3.18 kg (7 lb) and measures 40.64 cm (16 in) long and 10.16 cm (4 in) in diameter. Just one of these can provide 40 regular-sized servings for a cost of for £24.60 ($40)!

Dan's first venture into hot dog fame wasn't necessarily to make it larger, however. "We were having a family BBQ and my father was at the grill. In the process of cooking we bumped the plate of 'tiny' hot dogs, they started rolling and many fell on the ground," Dan explained. "I started thinking about that more and decided that a hot dog with flat sides would do the trick. So the first attempt was to make a square hot dog."

Unfortunately, that proved to be no economically viable from a manufacturing perspective, but the alternative Dan came up with was a Big Hot Dog that could be sliced into patties for grilling and consumption. The slicing created a hot dog with two flat sides that wouldn't roll around.

Dan connected with a local Chicago, Illinois, USA sausage factory and was able to upgrade their 100-year-old veal, pork, and beef German hot dog recipe into one that worked for a Big Hot Dog.

Big Hot Dogs are generally manufactured in lots of 100, meaning 700lbs of Big Hot Dogs for every lot made. 100 normal size hot dogs only weighs about 16lbs.

The buns are also from nearby in Woodstock, Illinois from a small bakery who makes the extra-large buns just for The Big Hot Dog.

It's not all a local business, however. Big Hot Dogs have been shipped to every state in the US as well as Japan, Argentina, Poland and the Czech Republic.

And can Dan say he's eaten the whole thing? "Yes! I have eaten the whole thing... just never at one sitting. It usually takes a few weeks."

Dan's record and many, many more feature in the new Guinness World Records 2013 edition - is out now worldwide from all good retailers. Find out more about the book and its incredible augmented reality feature, and where you can buy a copy at www.guinnessworldrecords.com/2013/