Day 077 - 25 Jan 95 - Page 53
1 "A", has become contaminated perhaps at the
2 slaughterhouse; that is possible, is it not?
3 A. Yes.
4
5 Q. Then it is all scrunched up together with the other one,
6 piece "B"; presumably, the bacteria in piece "A" can get
7 into piece "B" as well?
8 A. Yes.
9
10 Q. When they are scrunched up together?
11 A. Yes, but they will not multiply.
12
13 Q. Sorry?
14 A. It will not multiply.
15
16 Q. I was going to ask you two questions but you have answer
17 them with one answer. They will multiply if the conditions
18 are right, will they not?
19 A. Yes.
20
21 Q. But not if they are not?
22 A. Yes.
23
24 Q. Is it right then that you have the same number of organisms
25 but spread over a greater area or volume?
26 A. Yes.
27
28 Q. In this single product?
29 A. Yes.
30
31 Q. Suppose then this product which was contaminated, not by
32 the intermixing of the two pieces of meat, but by something
33 which happened further down the road, assume there is no
34 proliferation, this product, composite product, then
35 arrives in the store; what is the defence that the customer
36 has against getting food poisoning from this item?
37 A. You have diluted it in your visual example, you have
38 diluted it by equal weight, and the customer's defence is
39 that the product is fully cooked. Nothing in McDonald's in
40 beef is sold to the customer without being freshly cooked.
41
42 Q. Suppose that I went to a supplier -- it would not be you,
43 it would be somebody else -- selling good quality meat, my
44 butcher, for example, and I buy half a pound of fillet
45 steak or it might be rump and I mince it up and I eat it as
46 steak cartel, what sort of risk am I running?
47 A. With respect, sir, the type of butcher you would use
48 would hang his beef for a period of time to give it flavour
49 and tenderisation, and it would be covered in bacteria, but
50 you would have a resistance to it because you would be
51 cooking it.
52
53 Q. If I did not cook it, if I ate it as steak tartar, what
54 then?
55 A. There is a fair risk.
56
57 Q. We will have much more evidence about this later on. Do
58 you happen to know what are the critical temperatures and
59 cooking times for McDonald's hamburgers?
60 A. 72 degrees for 40 seconds, I believe.
