Mr Delligatti came up with the idea of putting two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun in 1967, responding to a demand for a bigger burger.

He ate at least one 540-calorie Big Mac a week for decades, according to the fast-food fan’s son.

"He was often asked why he named it the Big Mac, and he said because Big Mc sounded too funny," his son Michael Delligatti said.

McDonald's has sold billions of Big Macs worldwide, an estimated 550 million Big Macs a year, or roughly 17 every second.