Day 107 - 24 Mar 95 - Page 44


     
     1        is a build up of lactic acid in the area which causes the
     2        muscles to seize, a cramp, and give you the pain.
     3        Postmortem, it occurs, lactic acid builds up normally as a
     4        result of postmortem metabolism in the absence of oxygen.
     5
     6   Q.   Thank you.  I do not think we have any more.
     7        ^^
     8                       Cross-examined by MR. RAMPTON, Q.C.
     9
    10   Q.   Mr. North, imagine, if you will, an ordinary, domestic
    11        kitchen -- by an "ordinary, domestic kitchen" I mean one
    12        without a grill calibration, one without disinfectants, one
    13        without thermometers to measure the internal temperature of
    14        beef and chicken, one where the same cloth is used to mop a
    15        spill from the coffee, the drip from the defrosting
    16        chicken, the vegetables and everything else besides -- is
    17        that a fair picture of you ordinary, domestic kitchen?
    18        I will add some more details in a moment.
    19        A.  I do not think there is an ordinary, domestic kitchen.
    20        There is a whole range, but it is a description  ---
    21
    22   Q.   That is a fairly typical scenario that I have given you so
    23        far, is it not?
    24        A.  -- of some kitchens, yes.
    25
    26   Q.   Where the dishes are washed either in a dishwasher, as more
    27        often nowadays perhaps than not, also sometimes in some
    28        primitive households in a bowl of fairly warm, luke warm,
    29        if you like, water using a bit of detergent, and the dishes
    30        are then left to dry in a rack?
    31        A.  Yes.
    32
    33   Q.   The knives and forks, the knives made of perhaps some
    34        composite material for the handle with (inaudible) between
    35        the handle and the steel blade; why is it, Mr. North, do
    36        you think, that the owners of those millions and millions
    37        of similar kitchens throughout this country and the rest of
    38        the world are not constantly in a state of what one might
    39        call poisonous degeneration on account of bacteriological
    40        infestation or invasion?
    41        A.  First of all, one has to say that, refer back to my
    42        earlier evidence, you actually have to work very hard to
    43        get food poisoning.
    44
    45   Q.   Bellow at me because I am a bit deaf.
    46
    47   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Keep your voice up.
    48        A.  In my experience, you have to work very hard to get
    49        food poisoning.
    50 
    51   MR. RAMPTON:  Yes. 
    52        A.  In that sense, very often the domestic cook is relying 
    53        on an over-kill, if you like.  The single, very often,
    54        defence they have is cooking.  It is not pared down to
    55        seconds.  It will very often be very, very much longer than
    56        is strictly technically necessary.  That sort of process
    57        builds in it an enormous safety margin.
    58
    59   Q.   Do you eat meat, Mr. North?
    60        A.  Yes.

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