Day 112 - 31 Mar 95 - Page 41


     
     1        boning hall applied for the whole period that were you
     2        there?
     3        A.  For the last two weeks or for the second week and the
     4        third week that I worked there.  The third week, the third
     5        chronological week I was not at the plant.  I visited the
     6        plant twice because of wanting to clarify some of these
     7        concerns, particularly about the carcass temperatures and
     8        the BSE certification, but I did not have time during those
     9        visits to measure the carcass temperatures.
    10
    11   Q.   There are just a couple more questions from me.
    12        Mr. Rampton put it to you that it was just the skin
    13        contamination, when there was no sterilization unit at the
    14        beginning of the post-slaughter line, and you said there
    15        was no sterilization there of knives that had been used
    16        that were splitting the skin and going inside the
    17        animal ----
    18        A.  Yes.
    19
    20   Q.   --- the carcass, that it was just the skin that the
    21        contamination was coming off?
    22        A.  Yes.
    23
    24   Q.   Is that something that should be unimportant or something
    25        that is important?
    26        A.  No, of course it is important.  The skin is, as a rule,
    27        contaminated.
    28
    29   Q.   Contaminated with what?
    30        A.  With faecal contamination, particularly after
    31        transport.
    32
    33   Q.   Is faecal contamination the main concern?
    34        A.  Yes.
    35
    36   Q.   As far as pathogens?
    37        A.  Yes.
    38
    39   Q.   The knife that was going into the carcass, was it
    40        penetrated through the skin?
    41        A.  Yes, it was.
    42
    43   Q.   Into the flesh?
    44        A.  Yes.  You cannot do bleeding without penetrating the
    45        skin.
    46
    47   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Even if you sterilized your knife you
    48        promptly make it dirty by piercing the skin then?
    49        A.  The general idea at the bleeding point is that there is
    50        one man or a man who uses one knife and splits the skin 
    51        trying not to penetrate the muscle.  Then another man puts 
    52        his knife in through the wound and severs the arteries.  As 
    53        far as I can remember, Jarretts, the man who hoisted the
    54        animal, I cannot, my recollection does not help me here,
    55        I cannot remember.  I have a feeling that the same man did
    56        the both but he was meant to use different knives for it.
    57
    58   MR. MORRIS:  But in any event they were not sterilized?
    59        A.  No.  There was a problem in that area.
    60

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