Day 094 - 01 Mar 95 - Page 49


     
     1
     2   Q.   You have mentioned that one.
     3
     4   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes, we have dealt with that.
     5        A.  I disagree with that.
     6
     7   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You have given your response to that.
     8        A.  The other part of the equation might be true, I do not
     9        know, that it is sold to fast-food restaurants, I do not
    10        know.  Definitely that kind of meat does not go into our
    11        products.
    12
    13   MS. STEEL:   Following that procedure, is it correct that
    14        somebody, a worker, known as a "pregutter" would open up
    15        the carcass to remove the offal and paunch?
    16        A.  That is correct.
    17
    18   Q.   Would you agree that then 50 to 60 per cent of the carcass
    19        becomes contaminated with faecal matter?
    20        A.  No, I do not.
    21
    22   Q.   Or any of the other things that are written in that part?
    23        A.  No, I do not.
    24
    25   Q.   What percentage would you say would become contaminated
    26        then?
    27        A.  This particular farm -- I am sorry, abattoir, I do not
    28        know, but significantly less than that.
    29
    30   Q.   The ones that you have seen then, what would you say, about
    31        30 per cent or something?
    32        A.  No, no.  It is single digits, the most.  They are
    33        plants where it just does not happen at all.
    34
    35   Q.   Why is that?  We have heard in this country that recently
    36        the company has ask for the oesophagus to be tied off; is
    37        that something that has been introduced in America as well?
    38        A.  We have been doing it for a long time.  It is part of
    39        the normal practices.
    40
    41   Q.   How long has that been the case?
    42        A.  It is difficult to say for how long.  There is a great
    43        number of abattoirs that do not know -- that have this
    44        procedure in place.  I do not know when they started.  From
    45        what I have visited, they have been doing that, the ones
    46        I have visited.
    47
    48   Q.   The ones you have visited have been doing it for quite some
    49        time?
    50        A.  That is correct. 
    51 
    52   Q.   It took three or four years or something like that? 
    53        A.  That is correct.
    54
    55   Q.   Then there are others that are not doing it?
    56        A.  Yes, that is correct.
    57
    58   Q.   The reason for doing that is to prevent this kind of thing
    59        happening?
    60        A.  It is one more thing that you can do to increase the

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