Day 288 - 28 Oct 96 - Page 06


     
     1
     2   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What is the pig meat of one kind or another?
     3
     4   MS. STEEL:   It would come to 107,845,534 pounds.
     5
     6   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
     7
     8   MS. STEEL:   I can't remember how much meat McDonald's used from
     9        an individual pig, but obviously -- sorry.  They only used
    10        10 percent of the carcass from cattle and I have got a note
    11        that on day 92, page 40 Dr. Gomez Gonzales said that 200 to
    12        250 million pounds of chicken were used in the USA each
    13        year, which translated to 80 to 100 million chickens.  So
    14        in the USA alone, that is 80 to 100 million chickens which
    15        are reared and slaughtered for McDonald's use.  Yes, the
    16        figures of 200 to 250 million pounds of chicken in the USA
    17        is obviously a more recent figure than the 1990 Gee Whiz
    18        numbers.
    19
    20   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    21
    22   MS. STEEL:   In pink volume 6, which is actually a nutrition
    23        bundle, at tab 31, there is the booklet Nutrition and
    24        Ingredient Issues, a reference guide for McDonald's
    25        owner/operators, which is produced by the McDonald's
    26        Corporation.  I cannot actually remember the date that this
    27        was published.  I do remember we had some discussion about
    28        this, because it was illegible because of the way it has
    29        been faxed and photocopied.
    30
    31        But on page 21 of that document, I think it was the late
    32        80s, early 90s that it was produced, on page 21 of that
    33        document, which is bundle page 59AJ, it says that:  We
    34        crack over 3 million fresh grade A large eggs every single
    35        day.  That is "we" being the McDonald's Corporation.  So
    36        that is effectively 3 million chickens at least which are
    37        being imprisoned in battery cages at any one time in order
    38        to supply McDonald's with eggs.  And that is just for the
    39        USA.  So obviously we are talking about a huge number of
    40        animals which are being born and bred solely for McDonald's
    41        to turn into their products and make profits from.
    42
    43   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Yes.
    44
    45   MS. STEEL:  The fact sheet then goes on: "Some of them...." -
    46        "them" being the animals - "Some of them - especially
    47        chickens and pigs - spend their lives in the entirely
    48        artificial conditions of huge factory farms with no access
    49        to air or sunshine and no freedom of movement."  I should
    50        just say I think the reference to air has been accepted all 
    51        around as a reference to fresh air. 
    52 
    53   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   I suggested fresh air.  I wonder whether
    54        "fresh" does not bring in an unnecessary term, so open.
    55
    56   MS. STEEL:   Open, yes.  Nobody is going to think even for one
    57        second that ways have been developed for farming animals
    58        without the need to breathe.  Just on this point, the
    59        Plaintiffs pleaded meaning at LA is incorrect because the
    60        leaflet says some of them.

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