Day 094 - 01 Mar 95 - Page 18


     
     1        A.  It could be quoted -- is that a fact?
     2
     3   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  No, you are being asked, you see, whether you
     4        would accept that it is?
     5        A.  Yes.
     6
     7   Q.   Just answer the question, and we will see whether it gets
     8        us anywhere at the end of the day.
     9
    10   MS. STEEL:  It is also the union of these inspectors that is
    11        making the complaints as well?
    12        A.  Yes.
    13
    14   Q.   What action has McDonald's taken to investigate these
    15        complaints thoroughly, or do you just feel that you are not
    16        concerned about them, you have written them off?
    17        A.  If you want to make a bald statement, I do not care.
    18        We have our own system that is far better than inspectors.
    19        I do not rely on inspection when it comes to chickens
    20        because our operations are -- we have a very strong
    21        relationship with the Tysons and the Equities.  Our plants
    22        run more efficiently, a lot better when it comes to
    23        inspection than any in the plant that is in the US that
    24        does not have a HACCP plant and most of them do not.  We
    25        were one of the first and we might have been the first to
    26        implement a HACCP.
    27
    28   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Pause there.  What you are saying is you do
    29        not have to investigate a complaint if your state of
    30        knowledge is that it is wrong, that is what you are saying?
    31        A.  That is correct.  We see our operations every single
    32        day.  Our operations have not been -----
    33
    34   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes, very well.
    35
    36   MS. STEEL:  Who sees your operations every single day?  Are you
    37        talking about operations in the restaurants?
    38        A.  One at a time.  We see operation -- I am one of many
    39        people who visit the plant who see the plant, who see the
    40        facilities.  It is quite obvious by doing that that those
    41        claims are thoroughly unsubstantiated.
    42
    43   Q.   Are you saying that there is someone from McDonald's at the
    44        Tyson plant every day of the year?
    45        A.  No.
    46
    47   Q.   How often are visits made?
    48        A.  It depends.  I do not know how often the other people
    49        visit the plants.  But I can tell you, of all the people
    50        that visit the plant probably I am the one who visit them 
    51        the least.  There are people in the Quality Assurance 
    52        Department that have direct responsibility, who visit the 
    53        plant more often than I do, far more often.
    54
    55   Q.   But you do not know how often they visit?
    56        A.  That is what I said.
    57
    58   Q.   If an inspector at a Tyson plant made a comment such as:
    59        "Would you want to go out to a pasture with a chicken, cut
    60        him up and then drop him into a fresh manure pile and eat

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