Day 291 - 31 Oct 96 - Page 41
1
2 By way of an example, Mr. Gregory's statement was served
3 before this trial started, and he mentioned in his
4 statement about the use of goads at Midland Meat and, yet,
5 when Mr. Chambers -- well, he mentioned about the use of
6 goads in his statement, and so McDonald's must have known
7 that Midland Meat were using goads; and, yet, when
8 Mr. Chambers came to give his evidence two years later,
9 they were still using goads, and he did not even know that
10 it was against the policy. So it just shows, you know,
11 that the reality of the situation is that there is no real
12 concern for the animals; it is all about a PR exercise.
13
14 Just some other quick points about the policy -- well,
15 actually one general point. This is not on the policy. In
16 the Rearing and Slaughter, pink 10, in tab 2 there were a
17 whole load of McDonald's food product specifications which
18 were purportedly relevant to the rearing and slaughter of
19 animals and their welfare. I mean, we did bring this up on
20 one occasion. I cannot, for the life of me, remember when
21 it was. Just to remind you that none of those
22 specifications have anything which is specifically about
23 animal welfare.
24
25 MR JUSTICE BELL: Well, it was either Mr. Gomez Gonzales or
26 Mr. Cesca who referred to those, and, when asked about an
27 animal welfare specification, said it was there, and then
28 got to the position where it was in those documents and we
29 could not find anything in them. Was that not the point?
30
31 MS. STEEL: Yes. Basically, you know, they are putting the
32 bundles supposedly as an example of how wonderful
33 McDonald's are, and the reality is that there is nothing in
34 there at all about animal welfare.
35
36 In tab 1, the animal welfare and husbandry, McDonald's
37 position document, the second point is that McDonald's
38 insist that animals used in its products are reared in a
39 clean, safe, hygienic, comfortable environment, and that
40 humane methods of killing are used. Obviously, basically,
41 that is a joke. We have heard about all the conditions
42 that the chickens live in, for example. Mrs. Druce, when
43 she was giving evidence on day 109, page 27, lines 15 to
44 44, she related how she did not think that the broiler
45 units could be described as any of those things; they could
46 not be described as being clean, safe, hygienic or
47 comfortable for the birds.
48
49 In terms of the humane methods of killing that are used, we
50 have heard that both Sun Valley and Bowes do not comply
51 even with the Codes of Practice in this country; so they
52 can hardly be said to be humane. Obviously, in terms of
53 the cattle for the abattoirs that we have heard evidence
54 about, there are faults there, in any event. I mean, that
55 is, you know, aside from the fact that the whole process is
56 inhumane, anyway; just the fact that it is curtailing an
57 animal's life.
58
59 On page 2 of the animal welfare policy, or a summary of
60 suppliers' position, it says, under "Chickens
