Day 032 - 06 Oct 94 - Page 36
1 upon a choice of convenience foodstuffs which are in a
2 form ready for rapid regeneration into an attractive
3 product".
4
5 Now, this written in 1985, January 1985, states that: "At
6 present, in the UK, consumption of such foods does not
7 represent a substantial proportion of the average
8 nutritional intake of most people. It seems likely,
9 however, that some consumers may rely heavily upon such
10 meals and that future trends will be towards increased
11 consumption of these forms of foodstuffs.
12
13 The restricted range of menu items, and the choice of
14 foodstuffs which are amenable to the cooking methods used
15 may mean that meals from such outlets are somewhat high in
16 fat". It goes on to refer to data produced on the next
17 page to substantiate that.
18
19 It goes on to describe also other issues to do with
20 fastfood that it wants to take up as particularly
21 problematic. "Fat", for example, "has more than twice the
22 energy value of protein and carbohydrate and regular
23 consumption of high fat foods is likely to lead to weight
24 gain", and so forth.
25
26 But, in particular, I would like to come back on this
27 point about image and responsibility. Having referred
28 fastfood as being in general fitting the convenience
29 method bracket, if I can then refer you to page 12, the
30 paragraph under Convenience Methods, the third sentence
31 onwards starting: "One impact of these technological
32 developments is to shift partially the burden of
33 responsibility for the nutritional content of the foods
34 away from the caterer to the manufacturer", that is
35 because the manufacturer is no longer making its own meals
36 but relying on convenient meals supplied by the
37 manufacturer in that particular case. But, and I think
38 this applies to the fastfoods as well: "If prepackaged
39 and cooked products are to be extensively used in the
40 provision of food to those who will rely heavily on these
41 meals for their nutrition, the producer of these packs
42 must accept a responsibility to ensure a nutritionally
43 desirable balance in the meals."
44
45 I would argue that due to the limited menus and the
46 repeated or potentially repeated use of the fastfood
47 outlay day after day that a similar responsibility would
48 apply.
49
50 MR. JUSTICE BELL: With a caterer as large and influential as
51 McDonald's, they can obviously be completely in charge of
52 what their suppliers produce for them?
53 A. Absolutely.
54
55 MR. MORRIS: Just going to page 13 again, the paragraph which
56 you have stopped halfway down, there are a number of
57 points there they are making. How would you summarise the
58 points they are making ---
59 A. Primarily that there -----
60
