Day 077 - 25 Jan 95 - Page 37


     
     1        A.  Well, it is a straight line procedure.  It, obviously,
     2        has all the hand-washing, sterilizing, washing, apron
     3        washing, adequate hand-washing.  I can see the line
     4        layout  ---
     5
     6   Q.   Yes?
     7        A. -- to the chill rooms, to the detained rooms, to the
     8        condemned room.  There is shoot removal of the evisera.  To
     9        me, that is a good EEC layout.
    10
    11   Q.   You, as the customer (which you are) of this abattoir, are
    12        you not, would you be anxious about the quality of the meat
    13        you were getting from it in terms of hygiene?
    14        A.  No, I would not be anxious at all; I would be
    15        confident.
    16
    17   Q.   Do you know whether or not Jarret has a microbiological
    18        laboratory facility?
    19        A.  He has not got one on site but he uses the local one at
    20        Kingswood.
    21
    22   Q.   Do they do routine microbiological sampling, do you know?
    23        A.  Yes, they do.
    24
    25   Q.   Is that a requirement which you place upon them?
    26        A.  Yes, and one specific requirement as well.
    27
    28   Q.   Do you see at the top of the right hand top of the chart
    29        "condemned room" and "detained room"?
    30        A.  Yes.
    31
    32   Q.   What are they for?
    33        A.  Well, when we were discussing earlier on about meat
    34        inspection, when a meat inspector sees something which he
    35        is not qualified to take a decision on, he will have the
    36        particular side of beef or body of beef moved off into the
    37        detained room where it is detained until the veterinary
    38        officer can make an accurate judgment.
    39
    40        As you can see by that, it can either -- if the vet passes
    41        it, it can come back into the line or, if he condemns it,
    42        it does not come anywhere back near the slaughter floor.
    43        It goes straight through a specific doorway into the
    44        condemned room and then out the back of the abattoir.
    45
    46   Q.   From your own experience -- we will have more detailed
    47        evidence about this later on -- and looking at this chart,
    48        where do you think the principal stages in the line at
    49        which undesirable food contamination, whether from humans
    50        or from the animals, may take place? 
    51        A.  Would you say that again, please, sir? 
    52 
    53   Q.   Yes.  A rotten question, much too long:  Where do you think
    54        are the main hazard points for food contamination in this
    55        line?
    56        A.  De-hiding.
    57
    58   Q.   Yes.
    59        A.  But that is a fact of life because of dried faeces
    60        attached to cattle hides.

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