Day 112 - 31 Mar 95 - Page 44
1
2 MR. MORRIS: Did the suggestion come up from either side that
3 they could actually reduce the amount of cattle that were
4 slaughtered per day?
5 A. Well, their suggestion was it would not be economic.
6
7 Q. It would affect their profits?
8 A. That is right.
9
10 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
11
12 MS. STEEL: I have one question. Mr. Rampton referred to
13 Schedule 9 of the Fresh Meat Hygiene and Inspection
14 Regulations 1992. He read out part of paragraph (p): "No
15 action is taken which might alter or destroy any evidence
16 of any disease or contamination before inspection."
17 Yesterday you mentioned about the possibility of pus being
18 washed away. Is that something that would come under that
19 regulation?
20 A. Yes, of course it is. Today I mentioned only the
21 intestinal contamination because it is the more important,
22 most definite by far more common than abscesses, even
23 though abscesses in that area are reasonably commonplace as
24 well.
25
26 Q. They would be a sign of disease?
27 A. No. They would just be -- normally if you find an
28 abscess it would be a sign of the animal having eaten
29 perhaps something sharp that had penetrated the
30 oesophagus. Cattle have a very good ability to isolate
31 this sort of small incidents inside their body and they
32 usually do it by abscess forming. These are usually intact
33 abscesses and do not usually spread into the blood of the
34 animal. They usually stay as abscess throughout the
35 animal's life. The risk appears at the slaughter when you
36 are cutting up the animal and you do not know about the
37 existence of abscess, and you penetrate it by a knife or
38 cut it open. Usually if the abscess is not cut open we can
39 quite safely remove it and pass the test of the carcass
40 safely after examining the lymph nodes for any further
41 spread of the infection.
42
43 Q. What would be the risk if it was not removed?
44 A. If the abscess was not removed?
45
46 Q. Yes.
47 A. Then we would obviously have a risk of contaminating
48 the meat as well during the process.
49
50 MR. MORRIS: Thank you very much.
51
52 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Thank you, Ms. Hovi. You may or may not be
53 asked to return to court, but that is not your concern; it
54 will be for someone else to tell you if you are. Thank you
55 very much.
56
57 (The witness withdrew).
58
59 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, would this be a convenient moment to
60 respond to your Lordship's invitation delivered not so long
