Day 101 - 10 Mar 95 - Page 50
1 A. No, I have not.
2
3 MR. MORRIS: Have you ever demanded any animal welfare
4 improvements from your supply chain for your suppliers to
5 monitor or whatever, McDonald's purely animal welfare
6 matters, nothing to do with meat quality or anything like
7 that?
8 A. We were talking about one not so long ago, the use of
9 goads.
10
11 Q. Is there any other one you can think of apart from that?
12 A. Above and beyond the systems they already operate, I do
13 not know if recommendations were made at the beginning of
14 the supply, but certainly since I have been involved the
15 standards have been very much as high as they are now, so
16 the need for improvements have not been there.
17
18 Q. Have you ever demanded any improvements from your suppliers
19 for meat quality? Well, about for example bones in chicken
20 products, have you demanded improvements in that?
21 A. We try to improve that situation as best as possible,
22 yes.
23
24 Q. Things are improving, are they not? You have X-ray
25 screens. You have mentioned a number of improvements in
26 the last few years, but the only animal welfare
27 improvements you can think of is the goads. We have heard
28 of many of improvements you have suggested for meat
29 quality, have we not?
30
31 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just sit back and think now. You see, the
32 time may come or may have come a long time ago when
33 Ms. Steel and Mr. Morris think that ought to be done when
34 animals are going to be killed for food. You may hold a
35 different point of view. Is there anything you can think
36 of in what you know about the system of slaughtering
37 animals, because you do not go to the farms yourself, which
38 you would like to see a change in animal welfare?
39 A. With regard to the changes, there have been a number of
40 changes over the year at Sun Valley on the slaughtering
41 side of the process. There have been improvements as new
42 ideas come about and as areas of the factory have been
43 upgraded there have been a number of improvements. It is
44 difficult for me to tell you exactly when these happen and
45 what they all are, but certainly to the killing line and
46 the stunning equipment and so on has all been upgraded.
47 The shackling lines have now been doubled: one for males
48 and one for females. There have been a number of welfare
49 improvements and we will continually be looking at these
50 things with Sun Valley as and when necessary.
51
52 MR. MORRIS: The shackling for male and female -----
53
54 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Why are you taking these matters up with
55 Mr. Kenny?
56
57 MR. MORRIS: I do not think it is improvements in animal
58 welfare, but it affects meat quality because it affects the
59 grip on the bones and the damage to the bones, does it not?
60 A. Well, the birds ----
