Photo courtesy of Nicolas Morales
A group of Fresno State marketing students are the new record holders for the world’s largest fruit salad after Guinness World Records confirmed their entry this week.
The salad, which weighed 10,440 pounds, was made by a group of 97 students and community volunteers on Nov. 3, 2011. It took them just over 11 hours to cut all the fresh peaches, nectarines, plums, Asian pears and apples that comprised the dish.
Add in 1,120 ounces of lemon juice and a modified water tank as a bowl and the record-breaking salad, over 1,500 pounds heavier than the previous record of 8,866 pounds, was complete.
Documentation was taken by Axel Reyes, a California Highway Patrol officer, and Frank Alvarez, a forestry technician to independently verify the record. The salad was donated to the Povorello House of Fresno and the Fresno Rescue Mission.
The group of volunteers was organized by students of the Strategic Planning in Marketing (Marketing 188) class, including: Nicolas Morales, Francisco Rodriguez, Michael Leal, Scott MacKellar, Alfredo Escalante, Colin Hough, Sam Mabanta, Tyler Guthrie, Ryan Sherwood, and Gabby Gutierrez.
The class was also responsible for the attempt at the world’s largest water balloon fight in April of last year.
The fruit salad was the latest in a series of record attempts for the class, including a successful effort verified in July by Guinness World Records for world’s largest fruit smoothie.
“This was attempt number 29,” said Dr. William Rice, the professor of the class.
Rice said the record attempts helped students learn about thinking of the big picture when approaching a project.
“These kinds of projects get our students on the world stage,” Rice said, “and provide them with the hands-on experience that propels them into thinking globally and working more efficiently.”
While the world records are notable, Morales said that although they were an option, they weren’t mandatory.
“This is an optional assignment,” Morales said. “There is a lot of required material besides attempting the record itself.”
Rice said his class would be preparing for more world record tries in the future and students should be on the lookout for them.