Day 285 - 23 Oct 96 - Page 32
1 including relevant evidence as I am going through the
2 review partly because that is just the way I have
3 organised my papers, or not organised them.
4
5 Alberto Amador Zamora, President of the Union of the
6 Chamber of Beef Cattle Producers of Costa Rica, was also
7 interviewed by Peter Heller for that film. I do not know
8 if it was ever actually included in the film in the end
9 but we have a transcript of it verified by the film
10 director, and a signed statement of Mr. Amador, signed
11 31st August 1984, verifying to giving his personal opinion
12 and participating in the film.
13
14 This is from memory now, because I have not had time to
15 check the Wolf transcripts, but Mr. Wolf told him --
16 Mr. Wolf told the court, I believe -- and I may remember
17 this wrong -- that Mr. Amador had told him that he had not
18 spoken to Peter Heller, which I am afraid is completely
19 incorrect. This is the kind of -- the point is, so far as
20 we know, Mr. Amador is a supplier to McDonald's, he is in
21 a position of great responsibility and experience in the
22 beef industry and cattle ranching industry in Costa Rica.
23 But it seems that McDonald's witnesses have been prepared
24 to put over a line in court to try and damage the defence
25 in this case, and a lot of it is not true and they know it
26 is not true or hearsay or contradictory or unreliable in
27 other ways.
28
29 So all I am saying is that I don't know whether Mr. Amador
30 said that to Mr. Wolf. That is what he says that
31 Mr. Amador said. But the point is that we have evidence
32 to the contrary showing that Mr. Wolf should not be
33 relying on hearsay in court.
34
35 Then we come on to the US labelling system.
36
37 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
38
39 MR. MORRIS: Dr. Gonzalez said on day 69, page 47, line 7:
40 "It was the responsibility of the Food Safety and
41 Inspection Service that we use hundred percent domestic
42 beef". We did not have any evidence that there was any
43 particular monitoring of that by the FSIS whatever. In
44 fact, McDonald's stated that they have never allowed any
45 independent inspection of the supply chain for their beef
46 in the USA. I think, I can't remember, I think that was
47 Mr. Cesca, to be honest. I am sorry, I have not got the
48 reference for that. I might have it buried somewhere.
49 Just the kind of thing you would expect McDonald's to want
50 to have if they wanted to reassure themselves and everyone
51 else that what they are saying publicly is in fact true.
52
53 And I will not go into the argument over domestic product
54 and US beef at any length. Dr. Gonzalez on day 69, page
55 45, line 34, says as far as he was concerned US beef means
56 it is a hundred percent domestic, and he did not recognise
57 the discrepancy that even their suppliers had recognised
58 in that letter which we did look at in some detail in the
59 evidence. I can't remember now who we looked at it with.
60 But it is not -- I am sure everybody remembers it anyway.
