Day 012 - 18 Jul 94 - Page 73
1
Q. It is eight years ago now?
2 A. That is true.
3 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It just shows it is better to be appointed
than elected! That is just the way things go, is it?
4 A. It is, yes, my Lord.
5 MS. STEEL: So you are saying you did not come to any agreement
with Texas or California offices with regards to nutrition
6 brochures?
A. That is correct.
7
Q. Can you just turn to the letter of 21st July 1986? It is
8 actually tab 11, page 188?
A. This is the letter to Mr. Mattox and Mr. Van Der
9 Kamp?
10 Q. Yes, that is right. I want to turn to page 2 of that
letter?
11 A. I am there.
12 Q. Here it says on paragraph 1: "McDonald's decision to put
ingredient and nutrition booklets in its restaurants
13 nationwide culminates in a process that began years before
we had any contact with your offices. Over the past ten
14 years the company has taken the lead among quick-service
restaurants by distributing brochures setting out full
15 nutritional information as well as brochures intended for
persons on calorie, sodium or cholesterol-restricted
16 diets." If these documents were widely available, do you
know why the Attorneys General were bothering to write to
17 you?
A. I do not know what motivated the Attorneys General to
18 write us other than the fact it was, as I mentioned
before, during this time period it was a matter of greater
19 interest to the American public and it was something
McDonald's had been reacting to.
20
Q. If you are saying that information is already available,
21 why did you not write back to them and say: "This
information is readily available"?
22 A. It does not say, it does not say nutritional brochures
are available. There is a wide variety of material that
23 was available for diabetics, for people on salt restricted
diets, there were brochures available for that, but in
24 terms of comprehensive type of information, that was all
placed in one place at one time in our "Food - the Facts"
25 brochure and the subsequent posters that went up in the
stores that was not available before.
26
Q. But it does say over the past ten years the company has
27 taken the lead by producing brochures setting out full
nutritional information?
28 A. That is correct. There are brochures setting out
nutritional information which could be obtained either
29 from headquarters by people calling headquarters
McDonald's in Oak Brook or by the regional offices, but in
30 terms of them being -- I cannot recall them being as
comprehensive as our "Food - the Facts" brochure. I mean,
