Day 064 - 08 Dec 94 - Page 47
1 McDonald's food is going to do you good?
2 A. Well, it says, "just the kind of basics you may use at
3 home".
4
5 Q. Yes, but those basics may well be good for you if you eat
6 them at home, but if you add lots of fat to them, salt and
7 sugar, you have products that are not so good for you?
8 A. I am not aware that we do add lots more fat, salt or
9 sugar to products that we serve in the restaurants that may
10 be eaten at home. These same, similar products can be
11 purchased in supermarkets and would be eaten at home.
12
13 Q. Potatoes, for example, you only sell them as chips, do you
14 not?
15
16 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am sorry to interrupt you again because I
17 do not want to give the impression I am against you on this
18 point or have reached any conclusion adverse to you in
19 relation to it, but you have got to think about what the
20 point of putting this to Mr. Oakley is. It is really
21 comment which you will want to address to me in the
22 future. You have raised the points in the past so I am
23 aware of them. It does not matter what Mr. Oakley thinks
24 of it. It is what I think of it. It was not his
25 responsibility at the time. So far as I am aware, he had
26 no part in the drafting of it. The mere facts that he says
27 it does not look deceptive to him is in no way conclusive.
28 I have to form my own view having listened to your
29 arguments such as the one you are now putting to the
30 witness.
31
32 I could see the point in it when you had a nutrition expert
33 who might have some special expertise, not only as to the
34 ingredients of food, but any standard or typical ways of
35 setting them out so that they could be clearly understood
36 by the public and would in no way mislead the public, but
37 we have been through that.
38
39 What I am anxious you should not feel is that you are
40 obliged to put things which have been put already and
41 raised just because you have someone in the witness box
42 wearing, as it were, a McDonald's badge.
43
44 MS. STEEL: Mr. Rampton asked you specifically about the
45 column: "Where does McDonald's fit in? Of course, we are
46 not claiming that McDonald's provides every single nutrient
47 you need for a healthy diet, but it can certainly play a
48 very valuable part". That could be misleading, could it
49 not?
50 A. No, I think it does play a valuable part.
51
52 Q. People would think from that that you are providing a
53 useful part of the diet as opposed to a part that you
54 should really only eat as a treat or something like that?
55 A. No, it is part of a diet, and I would stand by what it
56 says there.
57
58 Q. Then near the bottom of that: "Naturally, to maintain a
59 balanced diet you should eat plenty of cereals, fresh
60 vegetables and fruit"?
