June 28, 1999 -- I like a good sausage as much as the next beer aficionado, but there is something about the record-breaking brat cooked up on the weekend in Kumhausen, Germany, that leaves even me gasping for air. Perhaps it's the sausage's 5.88 kilometre (4 mile) length that is taking my breath away, or maybe its 1.7 ton weight!

Said to have broken the old "longest sausage" record of close to 5 kilometres, the Kumhausen sausage was prepared on Sunday, June 27, by a team of 15 butchers led by master butcher, Bernhard Ossner. It contained the meat of several dozen pigs, all donated by local hog farmers.

To go along with their sausage, the citizens of Kumhausen had a 1.37 kilometre long loaf of bread, also said to be a record-setter. No details were available as to who kneaded the dough or how the loaf was baked.

According to the Nando Times, spectators had the chance to buy the enormous sausage at the price of five German marks (US$2.65) per meter, with proceeds going to a charity for Romanian children.

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