Day 294 - 05 Nov 96 - Page 29


     
     1        fact rejected but used for McDonald's hamburgers.  They
     2        were for educational purposes, he said, this testing,
     3        rather than any rejection purpose.  On top of this, he
     4        claimed that any raw meat supplies arriving over four
     5        degrees Centigrade would receive, quote, a cast iron
     6        rejection, but after being cross-examined by us extensively
     7         -- well, actually he was challenged with a document which
     8        showed acceptance of beef arriving over four degrees.  He
     9        admitted it happened and explained, quote, the quality
    10        control officer receiving the meat would make a management
    11        decision which was right for the company.  So it became
    12        apparent that the checks that were being done were
    13        educational checks rather than safety checks.
    14
    15        He did also, of course, claim that they checked every batch
    16        end product and it turned out that -- and I accused him of
    17        being a liar and there was a big kerfuffle about it.  It
    18        turned out, we would say, he went off to prove that I was
    19        wrong and came back with a document which proved that I was
    20        right, that in fact only one burger in every consignment
    21        for each company, for example, for McDonald's out of a
    22        million burgers produced, one would be tested, I think it
    23        was for E.Coli, I cannot remember, but only one burger out
    24        of a million was tested, which is not really surprising.
    25        So -----
    26
    27   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   I would like you to give me, in due course,
    28        chapter and verse for that.  I know there was lots of
    29        questions about how many were tested from a box.  And I
    30        know you have a point on testing for E.Coli as opposed to
    31        other matters, but I certainly do not remember the one in a
    32        million.
    33
    34   MR. MORRIS:   If you remember, there was a handwritten log book
    35        and it had the name of the company, how many burgers had
    36        been produced or something, and it had one test result of
    37        one test next to it.
    38
    39   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   I am not joining issue with whether the
    40        E.Coli testing is adequate in itself, because you may have
    41        good arguments on that, that really the point of their
    42        testing for E.Coli is not so much to make sure that no -- I
    43        had better not just say E.Coli, because that is probably
    44        everywhere and does not much harm, E.Coli 0157.
    45
    46        I mean, you may at the end of the day have a good point,
    47        that the testing for E.Coli 0157 is educational in this
    48        sense, that if it crops up it will cause you to have a look
    49        at what further you can do to make sure it does not crop up
    50        again, rather than being a test of whether every batch of
    51        meat is completely E.Coli free, which is another point
    52        which stresses the importance of cooking.  But once you
    53        start, that is one thing, once you start to say only one
    54        burger in a million is tested, it takes on rather another
    55        proportion, which is why I have asked you to turn that up,
    56        if you can.
    57
    58   MR. MORRIS:   Actually, interestingly enough, on day 77, page 48
    59        he did not deny ----
    60

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