Day 287 - 25 Oct 96 - Page 20
1 MR. MORRIS: "Did not McDonald's in Germany or any branch of it
2 utilise beef which originated from cattle fed on soya feed
3 some of which was imported from Brazil." He said he has no
4 personal knowledge, has made all due inquiries. "To the
5 best of my information, knowledge and belief, so obtained,
6 the answer is no."
7
8 I can only conclude that Mr. Nicholson had been misinformed
9 on this subject, which would bring into doubt the other
10 answers that he gave on other subjects and, also, to any
11 hearsay he may have given in court, relying on what other
12 people were telling him -- because this is an inquiry made
13 at the direction of the court, where there is an obligation
14 to make all due diligent inquiries, as opposed to
15 discovery, which is slightly different.
16
17 He also was asked -- this was number II in the
18 interrogatories -- "In or around 1979, did not McDonald's
19 Guatemala utilise beef which originated from Industrie de
20 Granaderos, Guatemalacus", a beef packing plant in
21 Guatemala; and, "to the best of his information, knowledge
22 or belief, so obtained, the answer is no".
23
24 Well, the evidence we have heard in this court is that they
25 were supplied from IGG something like between 1974 and
26 1976. So, although the question was "in or around 1979"
27 and, therefore, the answer would have been "yes" in 1974 to
28 1976, whatever. If you remember, there was a grey area,
29 anyway, where it was not clear when their supplies stopped
30 and Procasa took over.
31
32 So, again, that is either not correct or a deliberate
33 evasion of coming forward with some information that the
34 court was entitled to.
35
36 My last point on this subject, before I move on to other
37 bits and pieces, the last couple of points. Seigfried
38 Parta, in his statement, deals with the investigations that
39 he has made, conclusions of his investigations regarding
40 Brazilian soya used for German cattle. That is an
41 unchallenged Civil Evidence Act notice statement.
42
43 The final point on soya is that Mr. Morganti, in one of his
44 statements, talks about chicken product for McDonald's use
45 in Brazil. Chickens consume soya feed; and we know that
46 the volume of chickens sold by McDonald's is substantial.
47 That is an additional point, that soya feed which --
48 Brazilian soya feed would be going to McDonald's products
49 in Brazil through chickens. I didn't really express that
50 very well. There was other evidence in the case about
51 chickens using soya feed. I think Mark Patteson did.
52
53 So, if you like, there is the direct connection between
54 chickens fed on soya in Brazil, but there is the general
55 global case that other animals (in particular, in this
56 case, chickens) are likely to be fed with soya feed; and
57 McDonald's is stimulating a global demand for that kind of
58 product. Particularly chickens, I think, are important,
59 because they are the world's (I think) first or second
60 largest users of chicken worldwide, by their own
