Day 069 - 19 Dec 94 - Page 13


     
     1   Q.   Can you tell us what it is?
     2        A.  It is basically the same process for Nuggetts, except
     3        it has a different flavour, a different cover pick up, we
     4        call it.
     5
     6   Q.   It would appear from the text under item 7 that the product
     7        is sold raw, to be cooked by the consumer?
     8        A.  That is correct.  It is raw and it is also frozen.  It
     9        says on the label it needs to be cooked.
    10
    11   Q.   It is said that the doctor took stool samples from the boy
    12        and found positive salmonella. "The illness lasted three
    13        weeks and Jason has fully recovered.  Ms. Annis stated she
    14        realizes the product was raw and it was not fully cooked
    15        before it was eaten by her son.  However, she feels that
    16        the label should have indicated that it was a raw product.
    17        Dr. Hemphill contacted and he declined to assign an
    18        epidemiology case number."
    19
    20        Can I ask you a little bit about salmonella, Dr. Gomez
    21        Gonzalez?  Do you know about the ways by which salmonella
    22        can enter the human system so as to cause illness?
    23        A.  Yes.  It can enter the human system primarily through
    24        the digestive tract.   It is found just about -- you can
    25        find it here in this courtroom; you can find it in the air;
    26        you can find it in the soil; you can find it in the water.
    27        You can find it in every food there is:  you can find in
    28        vegetables; you can find it in chickens.  You can find it
    29        just about everywhere.
    30
    31   Q.   Let us stick for the moment with chickens.  In raw chicken,
    32        how common is salmonella?
    33        A.  Very common, you can find it in chickens.
    34
    35   Q.   Is there anything that either the farmer or the slaughterer
    36        or the food processor can do to eradicate the occurrence of
    37        salmonella in raw chicken?
    38        A.  I wish we had a process, but at this present time there
    39        is no technology that would allow us to produce a chicken
    40        that is free from salmonella other than radiation.
    41
    42   Q.   You may have told us this last week.  Where do chickens get
    43        their salmonella?  Do they get it while they are still
    44        alive; do they get it in the process plant; or where does
    45        it come from?
    46        A.  They can get it at any step in the process: from the
    47        eggs when they hatch, at the hatcheries, at the grower
    48        facilities, during transportation, during possessing,
    49        during storage -- all the time.
    50 
    51   Q.   Supposing then that raw chicken will frequently have a 
    52        salmonella contamination, from whatever stage in its life, 
    53        what is the means of preventing that from infecting humans?
    54        A.  Cooking.
    55
    56   Q.   Cooking.  Is McDonald's, which sells a good lot of chicken,
    57        conscious of that precept?
    58        A.  Absolutely.  We do a lot of the things to ensure that
    59        the Nuggetts are cooked properly.  It would normally take
    60        140 to 145 degrees Fahrenheit to destroy the salmonella in

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