Day 078 - 26 Jan 95 - Page 44


     
     1        of quality control, hygiene, the 44 quality control checks
     2        carried out on it.  All meat from the time it comes in,
     3        although it is passed fit for human consumption, until the
     4        time it goes out every batch of meat has 44 quality control
     5        checks.
     6
     7   Q.   So why do you have this specification about the goads then?
     8        A.  Why do I have the specification about the goads?
     9
    10   Q.   Why does McKey have the specification about the goads?
    11        A.  Because McDonald's requested it.  I said that this
    12        morning.
    13
    14   Q.   You could send the stuff used with goads to the Scunthorpe
    15        plant?
    16        A.  I am afraid I cannot follow the logic of that.
    17
    18   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Just put it to him in another way.  What,
    19        I think, is being suggested to you is that you could have
    20        the non-goad specification for beef which you knew was
    21        going to go to McDonald's, and that beef would either go to
    22        Milton Keynes or into the McDonald's line at Scunthorpe,
    23        and you could have a specification without an antigoad
    24        provision and beef which came through under that
    25        specification could go to the private label lines at
    26        Scunthorpe.  You are being asked why you do not do that?
    27        A.  It is not practical, my Lord.  I mean -----
    28
    29   Q.   It is just simpler to have non-goads?
    30        A.  It is simpler to have one specification on beef.
    31        I mean, beef comes from various suppliers.  The only
    32        difference and the only reason that this subject has
    33        cropped up now is that Botswana meat never goes to Milton
    34        Keynes, it only goes to Scunthorpe, but the rest the meat
    35        is not kept separate.  I do not have a McDonald's supplier
    36        who I never let go anywhere else.  As a matter of fact, the
    37        reverse applies, my Lord.  I know at least one supermarket
    38        where I can only put the meat in from a specific abattoir
    39        and boning room but that is not part of this case.
    40
    41   MS. STEEL:   So it is only with Botswana beef you make any
    42        differentiation then?
    43        A.  Yes.
    44
    45   MR. MORRIS:  Just going back to the pie chart, not the pie
    46        chart, the beef from Europe for McDonald's and the
    47        different suppliers, you said they have the same
    48        specifications?
    49        A.  Yes.
    50 
    51   Q.   So, for example, we mentioned France and Germany:  What 
    52        kind of cow meat would you get, say, from France?  What 
    53        would you get?  Would you get cows, would you get steers?
    54        A.  You would get a mixture of both.  I mean, we buy steer
    55        beef from France and we buy shop cows from France.
    56
    57   Q.   Would that apply to Germany as well?
    58        A.  Yes.
    59
    60   Q.   A mixture of both -- not at the same time.

Prev Next Index