Day 084 - 07 Feb 95 - Page 28
1
2 Q. What is reason for that?
3 A. To ensure that the product is fully cooked.
4
5 Q. Is that an annoying addition to procedures for the
6 employees or is it a simplification?
7 A. It was a simplification. Before we had checked
8 temperatures and times within the restaurant to ensure that
9 the machinery was working correctly and thereby, by
10 implication, the food would be cooked. That process took a
11 little bit longer. Our aim was to achieve a certain
12 temperature on a cooked product, so it seemed a much
13 simpler procedure to check the finished product and
14 ascertain that it was 70 degrees or 80 degrees, whatever
15 the specification. So, it was a much quicker way to do it
16 and thereby was more likely to be complied with.
17
18 Q. When was that introduced, do you know?
19 A. Not the exact date, but early 1992.
20
21 Q. Early 1992. What instrument is used to ascertain the
22 internal temperature of a product?
23 A. It is called a pyrometer within McDonald's.
24
25 Q. Can we call that a "thermometer"?
26 A. Yes, it is a digital -- a digital thermometer would be
27 a good description.
28
29 Q. Are you confident that it is sufficiently sensitive and
30 accurate?
31 A. It is. We looked at alternatives to the one that we
32 had and we looked at different ways of taking that
33 temperature. We arrived at this one with a particular
34 sensitive needle probe was the best one, and we also
35 introduced a checking procedure, a checking mechanism every
36 month, and it has to be checked against a separate kit to
37 make sure that it continues to read accurately, and every
38 six months we send this away to an independent place to
39 make sure it is reading correctly.
40
41 Q. Perhaps I may be forgiven for this: The reason for making
42 the check of the internal temperature of the product is to
43 ensure that it is at a temperature at which pathogens would
44 have been killed; is that right?
45 A. That is correct. Not only is the temperature checked,
46 the piece of, the product is destroyed. "Destructive
47 testing" it is called; we rip it to pieces to make sure
48 that every element of it is cooked correctly.
49
50 Q. On, roughly speaking, how many products in a day will this
51 test be carried out?
52 A. It will be done on beef products three times, on
53 chicken products three times, on egg and sausage once.
54
55 Q. Are you familiar with the outbreak of food poisoning that
56 occurred in Preston in Lancashire in 1991?
57 A. I heard about it while I was an Operations Manager.
58
59 Q. But you were not involved in it in any way?
60 A. I was not involved in it at all.
