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.
