Day 093 - 28 Feb 95 - Page 26
1 A. I am -- you ask a lot of questions; let me try to
2 answer them in parts. I am not the only one responsible
3 for this area. In the United States we have two other
4 people that work directly with their suppliers. I have a
5 global responsibility which includes the US. I am aware of
6 some of the practices genetically that were being carried
7 out in the 80s, but I do not know everything that happened
8 in the 80s.
9
10 Q. No, not everything. But, basically, it is true to say that
11 the meat obtained from a chicken on average over the years
12 at McDonald's has gone up? The breeding programme has
13 successfully increased the amount of flesh, you know, over
14 a period of the last, let us say, 15 years, it has gone up
15 all the time gradually? That has been one of the aims of
16 the breeding programme?
17 A. Let me tell you -----
18
19 Q. "Yes" or "no".
20
21 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, not "yes" or "no".
22
23 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, do not worry, Mr. Rampton. I have every
24 confidence that Dr. Gomez Gonzalez will not just say "yes"
25 or "no".
26
27 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, I hope he will not.
28
29 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Give your explanation.
30
31 THE WITNESS: We have -----
32
33 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Keep it as short as you can do while giving
34 justice to your answer.
35 A. OK. What we are looking after is the entire, again the
36 entire picture. The main thing about genetic programme, it
37 is not only genetics, it is the entire -- it is genetics
38 plus the environment which includes nutrition. One of the
39 things that we have done in the past, just let the animal
40 grow older. All species, as they grow, develop a higher
41 proportion of meat to bone ratio. A small animal, chicken,
42 has a lot more bone than it is meat. As it grows and
43 develops, it has a higher proportion of meat. So, do the
44 animals have more meat today than they had in the 80s --
45 yes, they do.
46
47 MR. MORRIS: They do?
48 A. Yes, it is natural. They are older today than they
49 were in the 80s.
50
51 Q. So they were killed in the 80s before seven weeks, were
52 they, the male ones?
53 A. It around -----
54
55 Q. Or the female ones?
56 A. -- those days 40 to about ------
57
58 Q. They were killed younger in the 80s?
59 A. Yes.
60
