Day 086 - 09 Feb 95 - Page 83


     
     1        sewage incident in a restaurant in Southend in 1993?
     2        A.  I remember the question.
     3
     4   Q.   You said something about raw sewage in the washing up area
     5         -- I cannot remember -- or it may have been the
     6        preparation area.  Do you remember that?
     7        A.  I remember the question.
     8
     9   Q.   You said you did not know about it?
    10        A.  I have not heard of it.
    11
    12   Q.   Answer me, please, an hypothetical question:  Suppose it
    13        turned out that that incident was the result of a fault in
    14        the construction of the building or in the plumbing which
    15        had been satisfactorily remedied as soon as it happened,
    16        yes?  Make that hypothesis, then please answer me.  From
    17        your position in the company, would the incident give you
    18        cause for continuing concern or not?
    19        A.  No, I do not think so.
    20
    21   Q.   You were asked about your reaction to supposed reports by
    22        Public Health authorities on food poisoning incidents
    23        supposedly attributable to McDonald's, yes?
    24        A.  Yes.
    25
    26   Q.   When these things happen and there is a suggestion that
    27        McDonald's may be at fault, does McDonald's makes its own
    28        investigations?
    29        A.  It makes its own investigations.
    30
    31   Q.   On what does it base its future actions and conduct in
    32        relation to such incidents?  Does it base them on what the
    33        Public Health authorities say or on what its own
    34        investigations show, or it may be on a combination of both?
    35        A.  The combination of both.
    36
    37   Q.   You spoke yesterday -- before I leave that -- you remember
    38        that Mr. Morris read out (or did when I asked him to do so)
    39        an incident which occurred in Maryland, I think it was, in
    40        the United States in 1987 about some people who got food
    41        poisoning from some shrimps.  Do you remember that?
    42        A.  I remember that.
    43
    44   Q.   The suggestion being that the shrimps had been contaminated
    45        by a member of staff unknown to the restaurant was a
    46        typhoid carrier?
    47        A.  I remember.
    48
    49   Q.   Looking at it from your point of view, do you think now
    50        that you know about that incident, that there is anything 
    51        that an operation like McDonald's can do to prevent such an 
    52        occurrence? 
    53        A.  Well, we ask our staff to inform us of any illnesses
    54        that may cause food poisoning on interview.  Also when we
    55        hire someone there are questions about health, but other
    56        than that if someone chooses not to tell us, I do not how
    57        we could know that they had a disease such as that.
    58
    59   Q.   Would you think it appropriate to make them all undergo
    60        regular blood tests, for example?

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