Day 080 - 30 Jan 95 - Page 57
1
2 Q. Have you ever had any part in that?
3 A. No, sir.
4
5 MS. STEEL: Just one question: Why did you visit Jarrets last
6 week?
7 A. I was in the West Country.
8
9 Q. So you just happened to be passing?
10 A. Yes.
11
12 Q. You did not go down for any specific reason?
13 A. No.
14
15 MR. MORRIS: A couple of the things, in your statement at
16 paragraph 30 you said: "The patties are then frozen for
17 one and a half minute in temperatures as low as minus 200
18 degrees Fahrenheit where they reach a temperature of minus
19 20 degrees Centigrade and they retain that temperature
20 until they are cooked on on McDonald's grills."
21 A. Yes.
22
23 Q. When you said "they reach a temperature of minus 20 degrees
24 Centigrade", can you just explain what you mean there?
25 A. Yes, when they go in -- when they come out of the
26 forming machine, they are about plus one maximum, and then
27 they go down a tunnel, a nitrogen tunnel, travelling on a
28 moving belt. The tunnel is 74 feet long. The belt is
29 moving one way and the gas is being flown the other way by
30 a system of fans. The temperature in that tunnel does
31 reach as low as minus 200 degrees because it is liquid
32 nitrogen, that is a cryogenic freezing. So, when the patty
33 comes out the other end of the tunnel, it is minus 20,
34 minus 21 degrees.
35
36 We go to a great deal of trouble to keep it at that
37 temperature while it is in the plant, while it goes through
38 the distribution chain, while it is in McDonald's store
39 freezers, and while it is in the grill side freezer. The
40 key to a successful freezer control of meat is to keep the
41 temperature level.
42
43 Q. So, is minus 20 an arbitrary figure or is that some
44 important figure?
45 A. It is quite an important figure, minus 20.
46
47 Q. Why is it minus 20, why not minus 15 or minus 25? Is there
48 any particular reason that is set as a standard?
49 A. It is all to do with the cell structure and the icicle
50 formation and the ice formation in the cell structure, but
51 it has always been minus 20 in McDonald's.
52
53 Q. In your paragraph 42 you said some things about the
54 relationship between the meat industry and dairy industry.
55 You said: "If there was no meat industry, there would be
56 no animals other than for dairy purposes and then when
57 these become too old for economic milk supply - what is to
58 happen to them?" Is the meat industry and dairy industry
59 interlinked in that way?
60 A. Yes.
