Day 016 - 22 Jul 94 - Page 49
1
Q. More so than for vegetables.
2
MR. JUSTICE BELL: It can be the reverse with vegetables, can
3 it not? You may not want to cook them too much?
A. That is right, yes, but again there are some of the
4 prepared vegetable products now which might well have --
it is possible that they could have listeria in them, for
5 example.
6 MS. STEEL: By and large, though, would it be fair to say that
meat, including poultry products, are the products most
7 commonly associated with outbreaks of food poisoning where
the cause has been identified?
8 A. Certainly they are major factors but, I mean, nowadays
with the development of readily prepared meals and the
9 extensive use of the chill-chain, I mean, it is opening up
another whole range of what are regarded as high risks
10 products, but I take your point that any kind of raw meat
is likely to be contaminated with pathogenic bacteria and,
11 therefore, it must be handled very carefully.
12 Q. OK. Going on to the individual additives now which start
on page 68, I am just going to do this very briefly?
13 A. OK.
14 Q. Is it right that the use of Amaranth is banned in the USA,
the USSR, Yugoslavia, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Austria?
15 A. I do not know about the later one you have mentioned,
but it is banned in the United States, but perhaps
16 I should explain that there was a whole scandal in the
United States on that one, and the scientific
17 justification for taking it off the permitted list was
never substantiated.
18
MR. JUSTICE BELL: Is that the one where Canada took a
19 different view?
A. Exactly.
20
Q. And was critical of the survey carried out?
21 A. Yes.
22 MS. STEEL: Do you think that the regulating authorities in the
USA are being irresponsible then?
23 A. In that case, yes.
24 Q. You do?
A. Yes.
25
Q. If those other countries that I have referred to have
26 banned them, do you think they are also being
irresponsible?
27 A. Again I am not sure we are talking about banning or
whether it is a fact they are just not on the permitted
28 list, so I am not familiar with the regulatory procedures
in these other countries, but I would imagine that (as in
29 this country) they were taken into account, both safety
and need, and that they would then make their own
30 judgment, based on the their own scientific assessment of
the available scientific evidence and on the conditions
