Day 125 - 12 May 95 - Page 13
1 would not have occurred?
2 A. I do not know -----
3
4 Q. What you are being asked, and all you can really say in
5 answer to Mr. Morris, is whether you recall any such
6 proposal, that there should be some kind of regulatory
7 provision as to the minimum internal temperature of, for
8 instance, a burger patty.
9 A. I do not recall that. I do not recall any directive or
10 any proposal that caused us to make a change. The reason
11 that changes were made in our system I think I have already
12 spoken to. I have spoken to that earlier. He certainly
13 heightened the awareness around the country. That incident
14 heightened the awareness around the country, not just for
15 the internal temperature of the product but the handling of
16 meat products.
17
18 MR. MORRIS: Somebody in Operations would have to know that kind
19 of thing, would they, about whether -- is it the Secretary
20 of State for Agriculture? Is that his official title?
21 A. Secretary of Agriculture.
22
23 Q. Secretary of Agriculture. If he was proposing assessing
24 minimum internal temperature guidelines or regulations for
25 all burger fast-food companies, would somebody in
26 Operations at McDonald's have to know that?
27 A. Yes, absolutely. I would say this, his staff, or
28 people that worked for him, made various recommendations to
29 him. I am certain there was a great deal of discussion
30 that took place with people from our industry and from the
31 entire restaurant industry on the matter. The fact of the
32 matter is that I do not think it is just as simple as just
33 the internal temperature of the -----
34
35 Q. That is what the concern is at the moment?
36 A. Pardon me?
37
38 Q. I understand there is a whole range of things, some not
39 even relevant to the fast-food industry, about uncooked raw
40 products and things that he was concerned with. Is Stan
41 Stein in Operations?
42 A. No, he is not.
43
44 Q. What is his position again?
45 A. He is Senior Vice President in charge of Human
46 Resources.
47
48 Q. Would you expect him to know about the ---
49 A. No.
50
51 Q. -- Government proposal?
52 A. I will say this, I think there is certainly a strong
53 degree of confidence in the overall operating procedures
54 and practices at McDonald's by the current administration.
55 This may be anecdotal but our current President is quite a
56 fan of McDonald's and, as you might have seen on
57 television, he frequents McDonald's quite a bit.
58
59 Q. I have heard the First Lady is not very happy about that.
60
