Day 111 - 30 Mar 95 - Page 37
1 Q. The line was moving too fast?
2 A. Yes, and once they emptied a chiller they have to take
3 everything out of that chiller. They cannot just take the
4 carcasses that they are going to send for export. It is
5 very bad practice to put chilled carcasses and wet, new,
6 fresh carcasses into the same chiller as well. You tend to
7 get very easily mould growth then, which is a visible thing
8 and would lead to contamination even though it is not a
9 grave public health concern.
10
11 Q. The problem with the chillers in general -- do I understand
12 what you are saying right -- applied to meat that would be
13 going to McKey's as well?
14 A. Yes.
15
16 Q. Is there anything else on the line you want to say?
17 A. Well, I would want to move on to the boning hall then
18 which is not on this line, but I should go further to the
19 right, then you come to the boning hall.
20
21 The first concern about the boning hall, obviously, was
22 that it was far too small for what was being processed
23 through it and it was very crowded. But even under this
24 type of crowded conditions, there are methods by which you
25 can make the operation as hygienic as possible and one of
26 the measures is, obviously, that you have surfaces that are
27 not worn out, and surfaces that are easily cleanable, and
28 surfaces that are cleaned very well. The other -----
29
30 Q. What was the reality?
31 A. The problem at Jarretts -----
32
33 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I understand that, but what are you saying
34 about the conditions in the boning hall at Jarretts?
35 A. At Jarretts the conditions, as far as these aspects
36 were concerned, were that the cutting surfaces, the cutting
37 boards, they are wholly vinyl white cutting boards which
38 are nowadays used at all abattoirs. They were very warm
39 and very difficult to keep clean.
40
41 Secondly, the boning hall was used during the night for a
42 second shift who worked producing minced meat that was
43 frozen in the premises. This came out. This was not told
44 to me and I did not realise this because I was worried
45 about the surface cleaning operations at the abattoir,
46 I could not understand why the surfaces were cleaned in the
47 morning before the work started rather than in the evening
48 after the work which would allow the surfaces to dry and
49 which would further enhance the hygiene because the
50 bacteria do not like dry surfaces but they do like wet
51 surfaces.
52
53 I was told that there was a second shift during the night
54 that produced minced beef in the same premises. So, we
55 were faced with the situation where the cleaning operation
56 was not giving enough time, or that was my suspicion and
57 that is why I wanted to -----
58
59 Q. Did you see the machines for mincing the beef?
60 A. Yes, I did. That was one of my suspicions that had
