Day 295 - 06 Nov 96 - Page 12


     
     1        So it looks like Timothy Chambers would know the reality,
     2        I presume.
     3
     4   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Yes, let us suppose that; where does that
     5        take me?
     6
     7   MR. MORRIS:   I am not quite sure really.  It is not very often
     8        anyway.
     9
    10   MR. JUSTICE BELL:    If they visited all the abattoirs at the
    11        same frequency, they would only get round every five years,
    12        if it was once a month.
    13
    14   MR. MORRIS:   I know.
    15
    16   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   What do you want me to make of that?
    17
    18   MR. MORRIS:   I am not quite sure.  You can make of it what you
    19        like, but I think the point is that visiting twice a year
    20        is hardly any kind of effective monitoring.  It would be
    21        such a unusual event that no doubt the supplier would put
    22        on a really good show, red carpet treatment.
    23
    24        McDonald's is relying on McKeys entirely to monitor what
    25        happens at the next stage, and if their largest abattoir is
    26        only being visited twice a year, then it looks like any
    27        hands-on monitoring is very, very limited and no doubt they
    28        are relying on the occasional form being filled in and the
    29        educational testing of the meat when it arrives, inadequate
    30        as it is.
    31
    32        Then on page 43, the fourth reference down, under
    33        cross-examination Mr. Walker said that McKey only requires
    34        suppliers to do random tests for E.Coli about once or twice
    35        a week, which would have virtually no value whatsoever, so
    36        far as I can see.
    37
    38   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Was that a reference just to E.Coli generally
    39        or E.Coli 0157H?
    40
    41   MR. MORRIS:  I think it is 0157H, because that became a
    42        specification after the Preston incident, as far as I can
    43        recall.  I have got some of McKeys documents and it
    44        includes a test for E.Coli 0157H.  I am going to look at
    45        them in a minute, because it also relates to the finished
    46        product testing.
    47
    48        Then page 44.  Mr. Walker says -- this is the last but one
    49        reference: "Since testing for E.Coli 0157H began, they had
    50        two incidents of E.Coli, one detected by McKey and the
    51        other by the supplier", which is, despite the inadequate
    52        testing, they had two incidences in a five year period.
    53
    54   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Just pause a moment.  (Pause) Where should
    55        I go from there?
    56
    57   MR. MORRIS:   Well, the point is that the testing is clearly
    58        completely inadequate, but despite that they still manage
    59        to find two positive results, that is minimum, that he was
    60        willing to admit.

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