The World's Largest Fruit Display Is Bananas... Literally

Whether done with the pun in mind — or whether it's just a happy coincidence — the new Guinness World Record holder for "World's Largest Fruit Display" was both literally and figuratively bananas. And if you happened to catch it in person, you probably got a banana on the house.

On Tuesday, the produce company Fresh Del Monte and the grocery chain Jewel-Osco finally broke the world record after taking three days to build the display. In total, the final potassium-packed presentation — which was located at a store in Westmont, Illinois — was 118 feet wide and 11 feet high, using 211,200 Del Monte bananas, which equaled 1,920 cases of bananas across 40 pallets. The final weight was exactly 77,365.9 pounds.

"Jewel-Osco is thrilled to be Fresh Del Monte's retail partner for the World's Largest Fruit Display," Scott Bennett, the grocer's produce sales manager, stated. "Our produce departments stock more than 140,000 pounds of bananas a day. They are easily our top selling item."

The new record — which was verified by a Guinness World Records judge on site and confirmed to Food & Wine via email — crushed the previous record holders' mark which, unfortunately for them, had only been set back in January of this year. The Louisiana-based Rouses Markets and fruit company Sunkist Growers used over 100,000 oranges, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits and tangelos to create a 40,013 pound display at a store in Metairie, according to UPI.

Back in Illinois, Del Monte and Jewel-Osco said that after the record had officially been broken, bananas were first given away to customers, after which the remaining fruit was donated to the Northern Illinois Food Bank.

"It is an exciting day for Fresh Del Monte as we celebrate the popularity of our cornerstone produce offerings," Pablo Rivero, the company's vice president of marketing, said. "What better way to communicate the global popularity and nutritional value of bananas than with a world record-worthy display and local food bank donation. We are committed to supporting local organizations such as Northern Illinois Food Bank. We hope this donation not only benefits those facing food insecurity but encourages increased consumption of fresh fruits."