Day 077 - 25 Jan 95 - Page 53


     
     1        "A", has become contaminated perhaps at the
     2        slaughterhouse; that is possible, is it not?
     3        A.  Yes.
     4
     5   Q.   Then it is all scrunched up together with the other one,
     6        piece "B"; presumably, the bacteria in piece "A" can get
     7        into piece "B" as well?
     8        A.  Yes.
     9
    10   Q.   When they are scrunched up together?
    11        A.  Yes, but they will not multiply.
    12
    13   Q.   Sorry?
    14        A.  It will not multiply.
    15
    16   Q.   I was going to ask you two questions but you have answer
    17        them with one answer.  They will multiply if the conditions
    18        are right, will they not?
    19        A.  Yes.
    20
    21   Q.   But not if they are not?
    22        A.  Yes.
    23
    24   Q.   Is it right then that you have the same number of organisms
    25        but spread over a greater area or volume?
    26        A.  Yes.
    27
    28   Q.   In this single product?
    29        A.  Yes.
    30
    31   Q.   Suppose then this product which was contaminated, not by
    32        the intermixing of the two pieces of meat, but by something
    33        which happened further down the road, assume there is no
    34        proliferation, this product, composite product, then
    35        arrives in the store; what is the defence that the customer
    36        has against getting food poisoning from this item?
    37        A.  You have diluted it in your visual example, you have
    38        diluted it by equal weight, and the customer's defence is
    39        that the product is fully cooked.  Nothing in McDonald's in
    40        beef is sold to the customer without being freshly cooked.
    41
    42   Q.   Suppose that I went to a supplier -- it would not be you,
    43        it would be somebody else -- selling good quality meat, my
    44        butcher, for example, and I buy half a pound of fillet
    45        steak or it might be rump and I mince it up and I eat it as
    46        steak cartel, what sort of risk am I running?
    47        A.  With respect, sir, the type of butcher you would use
    48        would hang his beef for a period of time to give it flavour
    49        and tenderisation, and it would be covered in bacteria, but
    50        you would have a resistance to it because you would be 
    51        cooking it. 
    52 
    53   Q.   If I did not cook it, if I ate it as steak tartar, what
    54        then?
    55        A.  There is a fair risk.
    56
    57   Q.   We will have much more evidence about this later on.  Do
    58        you happen to know what are the critical temperatures and
    59        cooking times for McDonald's hamburgers?
    60        A.  72 degrees for 40 seconds, I believe.

Prev Next Index