Day 094 - 01 Mar 95 - Page 31
1 We do not know the case that happened in the US. We came
2 back and checked and that is -- as well as the Centre for
3 Disease Control did a lot of checking into the patties.
4 They never found it there. We do not know the source of
5 the E.coli.
6
7 Q. You know they increased the cooking times after the Preston
8 incident, or that is the evidence that has been given?
9 A. Yes.
10
11 Q. Did you increase the cooking times in America after the
12 Oregon incident?
13 A. I do not know.
14
15 Q. You do not know?
16 A. No.
17
18 Q. So, if you do not know, or you are saying or you are
19 claiming that it has not been proved it was the
20 under-cooking, that was the problem -----
21
22 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think the trouble is with the
23 under-cooking, obviously, it had not been cooked, if we
24 suppose (and I have to because of admissions which have
25 been made for the purposes of this litigation) that people
26 suffered E.coli 0157 food poisoning in and around Preston
27 in 1991 as a result of eating McDonald's burgers, it must
28 follow, must it not, that the burgers which they consumed
29 had not been cooked for long enough and/or at a sufficient
30 temperature to kill the E.coli organisms?
31 A. That could be one of the causes, yes. I will accept
32 that.
33
34 Q. If they had cooked them for long enough and at a sufficient
35 temperature to kill the E.coli in the burgers, there would
36 not have been the E.coli food poisoning, would there?
37 A. That is correct.
38
39 MR. MORRIS: So, in fact, it is the under-cooking of burgers
40 that is the cause of the transmission of the E.coli
41 infection into the human body?
42 A. That could be one of the causes.
43
44 Q. Can you name another cause, a possible cause?
45 A. The air, the water, a surface at the restaurant where
46 it might come into contact with a cooked patty, it could be
47 an employee that is carrying the E.coli and touches the
48 cooked patty. It could be a lot of sources.
49
50 Q. So you are saying, despite the effective cooking that you
51 claim happens when McDonald's cook their burgers, people
52 could still get infected with a potentially fatal E.coli
53 infection at McDonald's?
54 A. That could be the case, yes. Our record shows that is
55 not what happens. Our record is impeccable.
56
57 Q. It is not impeccable, is it? You have had two major
58 outbreaks affecting not one or two people but a substantial
59 number of people, and it is not a trivial disease, is it?
60 People have died in other burger companies from eating
