Day 107 - 24 Mar 95 - Page 30


     
     1
     2   Q.   Do, please.
     3        A.  Essentially, not terribly reassured.  I have a great
     4        deal of experience in using that type of equipment and also
     5        a great deal of experience in monitoring other people using
     6        that type of equipment.  I am aware through that experience
     7        that two different operators of the equipment, identical
     8        sets of equipment, measuring the same piece of food can
     9        come up with substantially different results.
    10
    11   MR. MORRIS:  When you say "that equipment", what do you mean?
    12        A.  Sorry, the temperature measuring equipment.
    13
    14   Q.   The internal thermometer?
    15        A.  That is right.  It takes a great deal of skill and a
    16        great deal of experience -- far more than would be apparent
    17         -- to get an accurate reading from that type of
    18        equipment.  Therefore, the sort of checks carried out by
    19        the sort of personnel involved are not, in my view, of a
    20        type which are likely to be particularly reliable, and then
    21        in the context of their frequency, having regard to the
    22        cooking equipment now, which is itself subject to
    23        variation, the fact is that even if the tests themselves
    24        were accurate, the equipment is subject to various
    25        fluctuations in performance which could enable it to give,
    26        impart, temperatures to that food very different from the
    27        calibration setups.
    28
    29        I am sorry, I am not being very clear.  Essentially, what
    30        I am saying is that it is one thing calibrating that
    31        equipment, but it is not like a fixed piece of scientific
    32        equipment; it is one which is subject to enormous
    33        variations so that the calibration does not necessarily
    34        represent what will happen, in fact, during the course of a
    35        working day.
    36
    37   Q.   When you say "happen" you mean happen to each burger?
    38        A.  Happen to each burger through the course of the day.
    39        So, you have two heads; one is the calibration process is
    40        not particularly accurate and then, in any case, the
    41        cooking equipment subject to calibration and checking is
    42        prone to variation.
    43
    44   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I am sorry, I thought we were on the
    45        measurement of the internal temperature of the burger?
    46        A.  Yes, that is the point, my Lord.  Sorry, the purpose of
    47        measuring the temperature is, essentially, to calibrate the
    48        cooking equipment, to make sure that the cooking equipment
    49        is working properly.
    50 
    51   Q.   That is not what I have been told so far.  So, what I need 
    52        to understand is whether you are saying the internal 
    53        temperature of the burger, the testing of that, is
    54        unreliable.
    55
    56   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, may I say something?
    57
    58   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    59
    60   MR. RAMPTON:  Once again, I am appalled by what is now

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