Day 090 - 16 Feb 95 - Page 11


     
     1        underneath:  "Helping British exports" it says:  "When we
     2        entered into a partnership with Sun Valley Poultry in 1984
     3        we helped them introduce new methods to their operation
     4        which made farming and processing more efficient whilst
     5        complying with all animal welfare and food production
     6        standards".  Can you just explain what new methods were
     7        introduced?
     8        A.  Right, the "new methods" refer to the processing of the
     9        chicken after it has been killed and chilled.  So, it
    10        refers to the technique of deboning, taking the meat off
    11        the bone by a butchery process which involves what is
    12        called a "cone line" where the chickens are placed on a
    13        cone and then the meat is taken off by operators using
    14        knives to make cuts in certain ways which will take the
    15        meat off the carcass in the most efficient way.  There were
    16        no changes made to our farming or our slaughtering methods
    17        as a result of the association with McDonald's.
    18
    19   Q.   So you are saying that what is written here is incorrect
    20        because what you have said would have no implications for
    21        animal welfare, would it?
    22        A.  I am not saying -- I think what they say is correct
    23        because they are referring to new techniques in processing
    24        which we adopted, new deboning techniques and, obviously,
    25        the process of making chicken Nuggets was new to us.  That
    26        required new equipment and the installation of new lines to
    27        do it.
    28
    29   Q.   But you say there was nothing that affected animal welfare?
    30        A.  There would be no specific animal welfare requirements
    31        that McDonald's would have over and above what our company
    32        requirements would be for all our other customers.
    33
    34   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What is on the top of the page?
    35
    36   MS. STEEL:   "Buying British from french fries to apple pies"
    37
    38   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes, my numbers are not at all clear.  I have
    39        the part you want now.
    40
    41   MS. STEEL (To the witness):  So they did not ask you about
    42        animal welfare requirements at that time then?
    43        A.  What they did, they did a very thorough audit of our
    44        farming system and our slaughtering system and, obviously,
    45        to check to make sure that the standards were as they would
    46        require them.  But I do not recall any specific
    47        requirements over and above what we did for our other
    48        customers.
    49
    50   Q.   Were there any specific requirements about animal welfare? 
    51        A.  They asked for a lot of information which would be 
    52        relevant to animal welfare.  The management of the houses, 
    53        the number of people that worked on the farms, the type of
    54        feeding systems, the type of drinking systems that we
    55        employ, the type of food that is fed to chickens, the
    56        method of transport, the method of slaughtering; all of
    57        this information had to be shown to them and demonstrated
    58        in some detail that we were competent to carry out these
    59        procedures.
    60

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