Day 106 - 23 Mar 95 - Page 46


     
     1        involved in deboning and throwing bits of meat from a
     2        number of birds into one container?
     3        A.  That is true.
     4
     5   MS. STEEL:   Were you actually given any figures by Sun Valley
     6        for the deboned meat in 1989/1990?
     7        A.  No.
     8
     9   Q.   The improvements that they said they were making as part of
    10        salmonella reduction programme, when did they say that they
    11        had brought about these improvements?
    12        A.  The improvements have been progressive.  The specific
    13        style and dates of improvement were not suggested.  I know
    14        from living in and working with the industry, I know a
    15        number of the Sun Valley producers, for instance.  I do not
    16        necessarily need to refer specifically to Sun Valley.  The
    17        key was the 1988 when it was found that we had what was
    18        styled then a new epidemic or an epidemic of a particular
    19        strain of salmonella, the salmonella enteriditis, and the
    20        balloon went up late 1988 with Mrs. Edwina Curry's
    21        statement.
    22
    23   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That was in 1988?
    24        A.  That is right.  The real drive, the industry drive
    25        towards improvement got underway, a progressive improvement
    26        through 1989 and onwards.
    27
    28   MS. STEEL:   Right.  If we can move on to McKey's now; if you go
    29        through the same?
    30        A.  McKey's -- very impressive from approach onwards.  It
    31        is in a new industrial estate.  It is in Milton Keynes, so
    32        it is part of a new town.  Wide, boulevards, plenty of
    33        greenery.  You come to the site itself.  It presents an
    34        extremely impressive modern building.
    35
    36        You enter into a well-furnished lobby, you go upstairs
    37        which are carpeted, and there is a gold notice board
    38        welcoming Richard North to an ornate, very well decorated
    39        reception area.  They treated me extremely well there in
    40        terms of the staff they made available to take me round.
    41
    42        Going round, I made a somewhat provocative remark, that it
    43        was primitive in the sense that the technology was basic,
    44        there was no high tech electronics, and no really state of
    45        the art high tech equipment, but it was more than adequate
    46        for the purpose; well equipped in that sense, clean, well
    47        finished, well decorated, good structural repair and, in
    48        that sense, the visible aspects could hardly be faulted.
    49        I mean, you would have to be brutal probably to start
    50        picking up bits and pieces of disrepair and wear and tear 
    51        and odds and bobs. 
    52 
    53        However, and this is the general distinction I have sought
    54        to convey -----
    55
    56   Q.   Sorry, when you are talking about "impressive" you are
    57        talking about visually impressive?
    58        A.  The visual, yes, and, as I have remarked and so often
    59        found in my studies, that the visual means very little or
    60        can mean very little.  What really matters is the food that

Prev Next Index