Day 111 - 30 Mar 95 - Page 57
1 slaughtering sheep, by cutting the carcasses in half.
2 These chillers are much slower than normal cattle
3 chillers. Also, giving them time and say, all right, let
4 us monitor the situation, see if we can get the carcass
5 temperatures to go down. I would be willing to do this
6 management decision based on my judgment.
7
8 Q. So you were willing to co-operate?
9 A. On that point I was, but then there was another point
10 of export certification of BSE or export certification of
11 boning beef which requires the veterinary surgeon to
12 certify that the animals originate from herds that have
13 been BSE-free for two years -- at the time the time limit
14 was for two years. I was not provided with any kind of
15 documentation to be able to make the certification.
16
17 This was completely against the Royal College of Veterinary
18 Surgeons' certification guidelines and against the
19 guidelines and circulars of the Ministry of Agriculture.
20 I was in a position where I either had to sign false export
21 certificates or refuse to sign them at all, and this, well,
22 this was the other reason they gave for my dismissal.
23
24 A day later on a Saturday, I contacted the Royal College of
25 Veterinary Surgeons and they advised me to make a full
26 statement of the situation. I felt that it was fair enough
27 to inform my employers that I was going to take that
28 action. Then after that, I received a letter from them
29 giving other reasons for my dismissal. I was dismissed on
30 29th April and then I got the letter about a week later.
31
32 Q. So you are saying that the reasons they give on paper were
33 not, in fact, the real reasons they had given to you over
34 the phone?
35 A. They were not the reasons that were given to me.
36 I was, effectively, told on the basis of these reasons not
37 to enter the premises again on the following Monday.
38
39 Q. We are hoping we will get the letters from Eville & Jones
40 by tomorrow.
41
42 MR. JUSTICE BELL: If you do then you can come back to that. If
43 you do not, if you want to raise what happens next, we can
44 discuss it.
45
46 MR. MORRIS: (To the witness): So, in effect, you refused to
47 sign the BSE-free herds certificates?
48 A. Yes.
49
50 Q. As regards the traceability of animals arriving at
51 Jarretts, of where they come from, the herds they come
52 from, have you any comments about that?
53 A. Well, the traceability of animals at the abattoirs in
54 this country in general is very poor, because you have the
55 practice of cattle markets, rather than most producers
56 selling their animals directly to the abattoirs which is
57 the practice, for example, in Scandinavia or, say, in
58 Africa where I worked before. So that makes the
59 traceability very difficult, and that is the main reason
60 why the beef certification has caused so many problems.
