Day 094 - 01 Mar 95 - Page 60
1 MS. STEEL: Would it surprise you if the USDA inspected an
2 approved beef did have alarmingly high count of the E.coli
3 bacteria?
4 A. You have to define that for me, what "alarming amount"
5 is.
6
7 Q. What would you consider to be an alarmingly high amount?
8 A. Of what?
9
10 Q. Of E.coli bacteria.
11 A. In general?
12
13 Q. Yes.
14 A. E.coli again covers a lot of species. What I would be
15 concerned would be something in the neighbourhood of excess
16 of half a million colonies per gramme. I would be
17 concerned with that.
18
19 Q. What about if it was 0157?
20 A. That is a different story. I am concerned with a
21 single one. Some of the research that we have managed to
22 fund and provide those kind of research to the USDA so they
23 could apply those regulations, is that even if you find a
24 few (by few I mean 10), that is a different story. That
25 could be harmful for humans. That is the only bacteria
26 that now has the capability.
27
28 Q. Would it surprise you if meat that had been inspected and
29 passed by USDA was tested and found to have more than half
30 a million colonies per gramme of E.coli bacteria not the
31 0157: H?
32 A. Would it surprise me, yes.
33
34 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Provided it had been properly kept in
35 between?
36 A. That is correct.
37
38 MS. STEEL: Were you aware of Congressional hearings into this
39 area about hygiene?
40 A. Are you speaking specifically about the Congressional
41 hearings regarding E.coli 0157?
42
43 Q. No, just about hygiene and inspectors in general I think.
44 It is in the right-hand column you referred to at the
45 bottom of the page.
46 A. I have been aware, I have seen on TV, I have read
47 reports, but I do not know which one you are specifically
48 talking about. If you let me I can better answer your
49 question.
50
51 Q. Well, it says, "Dr. Norman Kigiger, a USDA supervisory
52 veterinary medical officer, said, 'We are allowing dirty
53 heads to get through due to an inspection mode which by
54 design allows this.' He then went on to say, 'A quarter of
55 the approved heads are contaminated'".
56 A. I do not remember that. It does happen at his own
57 fault. I am very surprised again they make those kinds of
58 statements. That is their job. That is the sole purpose
59 of their existence in that plant, is prevent that. If they
60 are not doing that, and if they are trying to keep their
