Day 099 - 08 Mar 95 - Page 74
1 A. No.
2
3 Q. So they all go through anyway?
4 A. Yes.
5
6 Q. So if you find salmonella in the tests at McKey's, the
7 products have gone through, so what do you go? Do you back
8 to McKey's and say, or do you McKey's tell you, "Oh, we
9 have found some salmonella"?
10 A. They would tell us. They hardly ever find any
11 salmonella, but when they do it does not stop that product
12 going into the system.
13
14 Q. So the standards which you set, the specifications which
15 you set on your products as a whole, is it fair to say that
16 a critic has to be aware that you have to set them by
17 comparison with industry standards? Say, for example,
18 I could say for chicken products, "Why do you not have the
19 same 0 per cent salmonella standards that you have for
20 McKey's", what would you say to that?
21 A. Can you ask that question again?
22
23 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, I am not sure it follows what he said.
24
25 MR. MORRIS: The standards which you set, why do you have
26 different standards for chicken and beef then? What is
27 your position on this?
28 A. Are you talking about microbiological standards?
29
30 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No. Mr. Morris is putting it more simply
31 than that. The McKey microbiological guidelines do not
32 deal with chicken because they do not do chicken for you,
33 but in relation to beef the big "M", microbial count above
34 which the sample is considered unsatisfactory, is an
35 absence of a finding in 25 grammes, and the small "m" is
36 the same. The number of samples to be taken from the lot
37 is five. The number of samples permitted to fail is nil.
38 Although you have said that, "McKey have hardly ever found
39 salmonella and when they do they tell us, it does not stop
40 the product going through", I have interpreted McKey's
41 microbiological guidelines as meaning that they will not
42 use raw beef unless there is an absence of salmonella in 25
43 grammes.
44 A. Right, that is not quite an accurate interpretation.
45
46 Q. Explain where that has gone wrong because that is how
47 I have read it. If you want to look at it, it is Appendix
48 B, tab B, to your first statement. You have it there?
49 A. Yes, I have it here. If I start with the McDonald's
50 specification and work backwards that is probably the best
51 thing.
52
53 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, pink VIII, is it?
54 A. Yes, 1B.
55
56 MR. MORRIS: I am not sure if we have the same one. McKey
57 microbiological guidelines.
58
59 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, that is the one which is at tab B. Which
60 document are you looking at?
