The 63-letter-long word, which refers to the "law for the delegation of monitoring beef labeling," was usually shortened to RkReÜAÜG. It was introduced by Mecklenburg Western-Pomeranian state government in 1999 in the wake of Mad Cow Disease.
While the German language allows the creation of compound nouns and run-on words, Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz was officially the longest word as it appeared on government documents, according to the Telegraph.
As the European Union has ruled that the testing is no longer needed, the word is no longer the official longest word, and the hunt is now on for a new official longest word. The longest word in the Duden, a German-language dictionary, is the 36-letter-long Kraftfahrzeughaftpflichtversicherung (which means “motor-vehicle liability insurance”, according to the Independent).
GlobalPost recorded this audio to show how the word should be pronounced: