Day 104 - 15 Mar 95 - Page 30


     
     1   Q.   So the hide is stripped off the cattle?
     2        A.  Yes.
     3
     4   Q.   Then the next stage is gut or gut removal?
     5        A.  Yes.
     6
     7   Q.   It actually has written "chute to gut table", is that true
     8        or false?
     9        A.  Yes, the operator who is shown there removes the
    10        stomach and intestines, in fact, and they fall
    11        automatically on to the chute and again they are then
    12        lifted through a hatchway into the gut room where they are
    13        processed further.
    14
    15   Q.   Are the hide and skin rooms separate -- is it separate from
    16        the gut room?
    17        A.  Yes, the hide and skin room is separate from the gut
    18        room, of course.
    19
    20   Q.   What happens to the gut?
    21        A.  The large part of the stomach is emptied and washed,
    22        and is then sent on to make tripe and the intestines either
    23        depending on the state of the by-product's business are
    24        emptied of the contents and turned inside out and sold for
    25        various processing, or sometimes, if there is no market for
    26        that material, they are conveyed directly to a skip, a
    27        covered skip, outside the premises in the by-products' yard
    28        for removal.
    29
    30   Q.   Is that an operation which is separate from, as it were,
    31        the production of the meat?
    32        A.  Entirely.  All these operations are physically separate
    33        and have separate staff to the people working on what by
    34        this time is the meat.  As soon as hide and gut have come
    35        off it -----
    36
    37   Q.   Are there people, as Mr. Morris was suggesting the other
    38        day, that might be guggling(?) around in the gut or
    39        whatever, or the faeces, and then walk across and
    40        contaminating the beef line?
    41        A.  No.
    42
    43   Q.   We notice that by the gut table there is a word -- he is
    44        not drawn -- which says "vet"?
    45        A.  Yes.
    46
    47   Q.   What is he doing there?
    48        A.  He will be generally supervising operations.  The vet
    49        in that particular situation would not himself be examining
    50        the gut.  That would be a meat inspector. 
    51 
    52   Q.   That would be a meat inspector? 
    53        A.  Yes.
    54
    55   Q.   What is the meat inspector looking for when he examines the
    56        gut?
    57        A.  He is looking for visible signs of inflammation or
    58        adhesions, as they are called, or other abnormalities of
    59        the surface.  He also incises glands or lymphatic glands to
    60        check for tuberculosis actually, even though it is extinct.

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