Day 112 - 31 Mar 95 - Page 17


     
     1        A.  Yes, I thought I did.
     2
     3   Q.   What are you doing putting into a statement, a serious
     4        statement of this kind, information which is completely
     5        irrelevant and misleading in so far as McDonald's are
     6        concerned?
     7        A.  I think it is relevant in a sense that I measured the
     8        temperatures of carcasses when they went into the boning
     9        hall.  It is very unlikely, in my mind, that the carcasses,
    10        carcass temperatures will go down in the boning hall where
    11        the ambient temperature is 12.
    12
    13        As far as I am concerned, the statement is correct; whether
    14        it is relevant, that is for the Judge to decide, I assume.
    15
    16   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You are saying, of course, when you were
    17        there you did not have any idea you were going (or I assume
    18        you did not) to be called as a witness in a case involving
    19        McDonald's.  As it happens, you took the temperature of
    20        carcasses being loaded on to lorries.  What you say (as
    21        I am interpreting it, so tell me if I am wrong), if those
    22        carcasses were well above 7 degrees centigrade, you would
    23        expect the carcasses going into the boning hall to be cut
    24        up for McKey's were also well above 7; is that what you are
    25        saying?
    26        A.  Well, I am also saying, I have also mentioned earlier,
    27        that I did measure the temperatures in the boning hall of
    28        half carcasses and quarters that were being cut up.
    29        I stayed in the boning hall long enough to see that they
    30        were being boned as well, so I knew that meat was being, at
    31        least they started to bone meat that was well above 7.
    32
    33   MR. RAMPTON:  So, in so far as this paragraph might be thought
    34        to apply to the meat destined for McKey's, it is an
    35        assumption or inference, is it not?  You never measured the
    36        McKey meat temperatures, did you?
    37        A.  No, I did not, unless some of the meat that was being
    38        cut up that I did measure in the slaughter hall that went
    39        to McKey.  There was no way of me knowing whether that was
    40        going to end up in the octibin or in some other package.
    41
    42   Q.   We must not treat it, must we, as the categorical assertion
    43        of fact which it appears to be in black and white on this
    44        page, must we?
    45        A.  No, we must not.
    46
    47   Q.   No, we must not.  Why does an increase in temperature lead
    48        to an added risk of contamination, Ms. Hovi?
    49        A.  I am referring -- again this might be my poor English
    50        and I apologise for that -- I am referring to the 
    51        slaughterhouse and the cutting premises operating at 
    52        considerable overcapacity and this causing contamination. 
    53
    54   Q.   That may be, but the increase in temperature has no bearing
    55        upon the added risk of contamination, has it?
    56        A.  No, it has bearing on bacterial growth.
    57
    58   Q.   I will allow that that is a poor expression of English; it
    59        is not your first language.
    60        A.  Well, I am glad that it has been clarified now.

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