Day 103 - 14 Mar 95 - Page 35
1 inspections from time to time.
2
3 Q. So if that inspector said you were not stripping down your
4 machines properly, would that be something that would be a
5 quite serious ---
6 A. Well, yes ---
7
8 Q. -- criticism?
9 A. -- I think it is very unlikely that that situation
10 would happen, because we have a standard operating
11 procedure which requires the lines to be stripped and
12 cleaned at set intervals. That is agreed with the
13 customer, it is agreed with ourselves and there is no point
14 in trying to break those guidelines. I do not
15 think somebody coming in from the outside would necessarily
16 be able to know that.
17
18 Q. So that is a pretty fundamental hygiene ---
19 A. Of course, yes, it is.
20
21 Q. -- point. Finally the last page, can you just explain what
22 this is? This is the microbiological testing, yes?
23 A. Yes.
24
25 Q. So, the Staphylococcus aureus, E.coli and Anaerobies SR
26 tests are not actually done on chicken products?
27 A. That is correct, the tests that we are required to do
28 are for aeorobic bacteria and for Salmonella.
29
30 MS. STEEL: Why do you not test for listeria at Sun Valley?
31 A. We do a lot of testing for listeria, but we do not test
32 routinely on uncooked products.
33
34 Q. I think you said before that you only test on the cooked
35 products?
36 A. Yes.
37
38 Q. Why do you not test for the uncooked products?
39 A. Well, listeria is like many other bacteria, is a very
40 -- is very commonly found in meat as a raw material, and
41 we know it is going to be present.
42
43 Q. That would affect more than 60 per cent of chickens; is
44 that right?
45 A. We do not know the contamination of listeria on
46 chickens but it is likely to be very high.
47
48 Q. 60 per cent would not surprise you?
49 A. No.
50
51 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Are the there various kinds of listeria?
52 A. Yes, the basic type listeria monocytogenes is the basic
53 species, but within that there are subtypes, some of which
54 I think are much more likely to cause illness in man.
55 There are -----
56
57 Q. The Scottish cheese maker, part of the argument was whether
58 the listeria in his cheese was the part which the Ministry
59 was particularly worried about or not, was it not?
60 A. That is correct. I think there are different -- there
