Ogbomoso-born Chef, Temitope Adebayo a.k.a. Chef Tope Maggie though made a record breaking feat in his Guinness World Record cook-a-thon attempt late last year with a time of 173 hours 18 minutes approved, his attempt was disqualified because of failure to adhere to some regulations.
The guidelines breached included failure of health officers at the attempt to wear head covers and use nose mask. But for this he would have broken the Alan Fisher record of 119 hours 57 minutes and emerged as Guinness World Record holder in longest cooking hour (individual).
This is contained in a correspondence to Chef Tope from the body signed by the Records Management Team and made available to the press team.
The letter apologizing for the late response noted, “We are writing to you with reference to your record attempt for Longest cooking marathon (individual).
“Firstly we are very sorry for delaying your result on the evidences you sent to us, after checking your evidences one by one we came to conclusion on your record to be 173hr and 18min to surpass Alan Fisher of 119hrs and 57 min But unfortunately this claim would not be eligible due to the guidelines not being met. As stated in the guidelines:
Food hygiene must be considered before and during the attempt.
- In one of your video, three uniform women was seen checking your food including the one you are preparing but failed to put on a cap that could prevent their hair from dropping into any of the foods you’ve prepared.
- In the same video, one of them was found passing some information without a nose mask which is also not allowed
“Unfortunately, according to the guidelines it is permitted for anybody who is working with you or inspecting your attempt in the kitchen to follow the rules of the kitchen hygiene in order to be sure of an healthy meal to the public.
“In the interest of fairness across all applicants, we can only approve a record when all of the guidelines have been adhered to fully.
“We appreciate this is disappointing news to receive but hope it does not deter you from any future record-breaking attempts.”
Guinness World Record appreciating Tope Maggie for the record attempt and urging him not to be discouraged, said, “Whilst we fully appreciate that this is not the decision you were hoping for, we trust that you will understand our position. However, if you have any further record proposals please do make another application, we would be delighted to hear from you again.”
Meanwhile, members of the team have hinted that the chef would make another attempt in December 2024.
