Day 066 - 14 Dec 94 - Page 19
1 around the world.
2
3 Q. Moving from the restaurants to the suppliers, the immediate
4 and the more distant suppliers, do McDonald's people visit
5 those suppliers?
6 A. Yes, we do. We have, I could tell you in Europe we
7 have 34 to 36 Quality Assurance Managers that will visit
8 the suppliers and make -- basically, they will have the
9 same role that I have is that to make sure that the
10 suppliers comply, and we have a verification process so
11 that they comply with our product specifications, policies
12 and procedures.
13
14 Q. So to take an example: The field consultant or the Quality
15 Assurance person would visit the person, the plant, that is
16 making the beef patties, for example, which are being
17 supplied to McDonald's. If the beef pattie processor,
18 manufacturer, is getting his beef from a slaughterhouse
19 which he does not own, whose is the primary responsibility
20 to see that the slaughterhouse maintains good standards of
21 hygiene?
22 A. It is the suppliers' responsibility to make sure that
23 that happens.
24
25 Q. Notwithstanding that, do McDonald's people still visit
26 slaughterhouses?
27 A. That is correct.
28
29 Q. In the United States do slaughterhouses have any government
30 inspectors in attendance?
31 A. Yes, they do.
32
33 Q. What functions do those government inspectors perform, do
34 you know?
35 A. They perform functions from animal welfare. They
36 inspect the conditions in which the animals arrive at that
37 particular facility. They primarily focus on the hygiene
38 and cleanliness of the facilities as well as the meat or
39 the animals that are being processed.
40
41 Q. Do McDonald's suppliers have facilities for laboratory
42 analysis of the product?
43 A. Yes, we do around the world.
44
45 Q. Are they necessarily in-house or do they sometimes use
46 outside laboratories?
47 A. It could be either way.
48
49 Q. Is either one acceptable to McDonald's?
50 A. Yes, it is.
51
52 Q. So far as animal welfare is concerned in the United States
53 at least, do the government inspectors have veterinary
54 qualifications?
55 A. Yes, they do. Usually, we require a veterinary degree
56 or a food science degree.
57
58 Q. You may have been told -- I think you have been -- that
59 there was in this country in a town in the north of England
60 an outbreak of food poisoning attributed to one restaurant,
