Day 064 - 08 Dec 94 - Page 64
1 A. I do.
2
3 Q. Do you know about the legal action that was taken in France
4 against the use of unlawful additives? Do you know about
5 that situation, the milk shake, McDonald's was fined 10,000
6 francs?
7 A. No, I am sorry I do not.
8
9 Q. It was in 1986. If I just read out that section: "In 1986
10 the company's distributor was Europa which imported the
11 products or purchased them locally. At that time Europa
12 obtained toppings for Sundaes from an independent Canadian
13 supplier which supplied the toppings to both UK and French
14 markets. The toppings for the English restaurants contained
15 an additive which was permitted in the United Kingdom but
16 not permitted in France." You do a lot of moving about of
17 produce around different countries; that is an
18 understatement probably?
19 A. I am very surprised by the 1986 comment in the UK.
20
21 Q. This is in France. The government's reaction in France or
22 they were prosecuted in France for using in milk shakes two
23 colourants that were not permitted. They were permitted in
24 the UK but they were not permitted in France.
25
26 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The suggestion is the Canadian suppliers
27 supplied both the UK and France. The topping met British
28 requirements, I think somewhere it was said it was assumed,
29 therefore, that it would be OK in France, but that was a
30 fault assumption because it broke French law hence the
31 prosecution.
32 A. OK.
33
34 MR. MORRIS: Based on that do you know that once that was found
35 whether any action was taken, but if you do not know
36 anything about it ----
37 A. In France?
38
39 Q. Against either the supplier or people in McDonald's?
40 A. I would imagine they changed the product but
41 I honestly -- it is not within my knowledge, so.
42
43 Q. What I am saying if this is true, and this is McDonald's
44 own witness statement, that is not that something that
45 would worry you as someone who is responsible for the whole
46 of Northern Europe and the UK that products may be moving
47 around -----
48
49 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Moving around from where?
50
51 MR. MORRIS: A lot of products produced in one country and
52 distributed in other countries for McDonald's, is that
53 correct; you have said yourself that you would like to see
54 a lot of the products made in this country and exported to
55 the rest of Europe?
56 A. I did say as long as it meets the country legislation.
57
58 Q. Yes. What I am saying is, how could a situation like this
59 have arisen where nobody checked whether a product
60 conformed with the specifications in a different country?
