Day 094 - 01 Mar 95 - Page 68
1 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I have assumed that because of the research
2 you have done what you are saying is that if your 10-1
3 pounder is 155 degrees, 25 seconds after it is removed from
4 the grill you know that it must have been maintained at 155
5 degrees for at least 15 seconds during cooking?
6 A. That is correct.
7
8 Q. That if your quarter pounder is at least 155 degrees
9 Fahrenheit 60 seconds after being removed from the grill,
10 the same applies?
11 A. That is correct.
12
13 Q. That is what I deduced from your answers. You do not
14 actually have to test it on the grill because all your
15 research of testing and everything else tells you that it
16 is still that hot so many seconds later it must have been
17 that hot for a minimum period of time on the grill?
18 A. Absolutely.
19
20 Q. Is that the way it has worked?
21 A. Absolutely. That is the way it works. As soon as we
22 take it off the grill it starts dropping the temperature.
23
24 MR. MORRIS: How many seconds do you cook your 10-1 burgers?
25 A. During the cooking time?
26
27 Q. Yes.
28 A. About 40 seconds.
29
30 Q. The quarter pounder?
31 A. 104 seconds.
32
33 Q. What temperature is the grill set to for the 10-1s?
34 A. It is 425 to 450 on the top, and 350 about 350 at the
35 bottom.
36
37 Q. The same for the quarter pounder?
38 A. Yes, the same temperatures.
39
40 Q. The same. We have heard evidence from Mr. Atherton I think
41 from McDonald's UK that they have increased their cooking
42 times, I think it was twice in the last few years. I did
43 ask you this before but maybe I did not ask it very
44 clearly. Have the cooking times increased at McDonald's in
45 the last, well, five to 10 years?
46 A. Yes, they have.
47
48 Q. When were they increased?
49 A. They were increased about two years ago. But let me
50 just make one thing clear. We fixed the temperatures and
51 we know there are going to be variations because the
52 equipment, because of the changes in electricity, because
53 of consistency in the patties, those are going to be
54 changes. The restaurants themselves have to adjust the
55 timing, the amount of the cooking time to meet our
56 temperatures, our internal temperatures, requirements.
57 That is one thing. The other thing, we have developed a
58 process, we call "staging", where we take the patties out
59 of the grill and put them into a staging cabinet. To keep
60 the patty in a safer, in a jucier state, we have reduced
