Day 105 - 16 Mar 95 - Page 48
1
2 MR. MORRIS: There was either no sample taken or there was a
3 sample above seven degrees and it was not logged?
4 A. There are various possibilities as to why there is no
5 entry on those dates, one of which could be that they had
6 an early day for boning out the beef. I do not think that
7 document is dated, is it?
8
9 MR. RAMPTON: It is 31st October.
10
11 MR. MORRIS: If we go on to page 62, is this part of HACCP, this
12 form?
13 A. This form is, so far as product traceability goes, but
14 it is a very much more long standing form and part and
15 parcel of the whole production operation. The carcass
16 record form, because it records weights, it records who has
17 supplied it from a particular farm and, therefore, is
18 related to the farmer getting paid for his cattle and,
19 therefore, it is a long standing and well-established form.
20
21 Q. What is the situation with the age column?
22 A. That is not completed because, obviously, in this case
23 it is not of great relevance to the payments. That record
24 will be made elsewhere. If you look at the left-hand
25 column, the producer ear tag number identifies the
26 particular animal.
27
28 Q. Is that because, as you say, the age is not important so it
29 is not logged?
30 A. It is not important in respect of paying for the
31 animal. The ear tag number will tell you all you need to
32 know about the animal, whether it is a heifer, a steer, a
33 cow, a butcher's cow, and the classification will also give
34 you some guide on that score.
35
36 Q. If it is not important, why was it felt important to put it
37 on the form?
38 A. There are ways and mysteries of form design are
39 something I am not an expert on, but columns on forms do
40 fall into disuse, in my general experience.
41
42 Q. So what does a cross mean on those forms then?
43 A. Those are carcasses which are identified as passing
44 through to the boning room.
45
46 Q. In the age column?
47 A. Yes.
48
49 Q. So the ones not crossed did not go to the boning room?
50 A. We can take it that is the case here.
51
52 Q. What relevance has that got in terms of payment to a
53 supplier?
54 A. Well, the supplier is only interested in what his
55 carcass weighs when it crosses the scale in the
56 slaughterhouse, the farmer, that is. He is not
57 particularly interested in what happens to it after that.
58
59 Q. So what is the relevance of whether it reaches the boning
60 room got to do with anything?
