Day 093 - 28 Feb 95 - Page 42


     
     1        on your target and ask about that, I cannot say what the
     2        answer will be, but at least there will be an answer.
     3
     4   MS. STEEL:   I have just realised I missed something out.
     5        (To the witness):  How many birds are in each current bath
     6        for stunning at a time?
     7
     8   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  We are still in the US, are we?
     9
    10   MS. STEEL:  In America, yes.
    11        A.  I have not counted them.  It is a moving chain so I do
    12        not know.
    13
    14   Q.   You do not know?
    15        A.  No.
    16
    17   Q.   Are there any countries where McDonald's suppliers do not
    18        use electrical stunning of chickens?
    19        A.  I do not know.
    20
    21   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  We are on broilers now.
    22        A.  On broilers, yes.  I do not know.  You have to
    23        understand that not all of our suppliers are just like the
    24        Sun Valley or the Tysons where they are dedicated to us.
    25        It is very difficult for me, for instance, just to make an
    26        analogy, buy a shirt and go back and tell:  "Was that
    27        cotton produced with pesticides or not pesticides?"  I have
    28        no control over that.  In many countries we have no control
    29        over our suppliers in terms of what we buy or where the
    30        meat is coming from.  We buy from, just like everybody else
    31        normally buys.  I have not seen, nobody has seen all of the
    32        suppliers that supply products to us.  That is beyond our
    33        human capability for us, for any business.
    34
    35   MS. STEEL:   So the suppliers in other countries are not
    36        required to comply to any policy then?
    37        A.  How can they be required when you do not have control?
    38        We do not own the suppliers all over the world.
    39
    40   Q.   Is there a welfare policy?
    41        A.  Where?
    42
    43   Q.   At McDonald's?
    44        A.  We went through this quite extensively in the past.  Do
    45        you have any specific question?
    46
    47   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  We did go through it quite a lot.  What
    48        I suggest is if you put:  "Is there any kind of
    49        specification or code which McDonald's provides for methods
    50        of slaughter of broilers?" because that is what you are 
    51        aiming at at the moment.  You might well find that the 
    52        answer to that is "no", do you see?  (To the witness): Let 
    53        me ask you:  Do you have any kind of code or similar
    54        document or provision for the methods of slaughter of
    55        broilers anywhere in the world that you know of?
    56        A.  Not through McDonald's, we do not.  No, we rely our
    57        suppliers to.
    58
    59   Q.   You leave them to set their own standards?
    60        A.  Yes, we do.

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