Day 018 - 26 Jul 94 - Page 74


     
     1   Q.   Right, OK.  The pig company, have you had any links with
              them?
     2        A.  Not directly.  The owner of the company or the major
              owner of the company sits on a research steering committee
     3        and is involved -- he reviews some of the work we do on a
              commercial basis, but we have had no direct links with
     4        their enterprise.
 
     5   Q.   You have not visited them before?
              A.  No, never.  That is the first time.
     6
         Q.   We were talking about the farm animal welfare council
     7        report in 1984.  Could you tell us a little bit about that
              report?
     8        A.  I think it was their second report to come out.  The
              first one was on poultry slaughter.  After a series of
     9        visits to commercial abattoirs and consulting with people
              like ourselves, people who are associated with stunning
    10        and slaughter from a welfare point of view, and also in a
              commercial context, they produced some recommendations
    11        which would have been presented to the Ministry of
              Agriculture Fisheries and Food.
    12
              Among those recommendations I think there were three
    13        categories.  One would be for new legislation; another one
              would be for enforcement, whether it needs to be approved
    14        or existing enforcement needs to be improved or whether
              new standards need to be set.  The third category would be
    15        with regard to research requirements to get a better
              understanding of what is happening in practice.  They
    16        presented this report to the Ministry of Agriculture and
              it has been up to the Ministry to respond to it, to those
    17        recommendations.
 
    18   Q.   Do you know, roughly, how many recommendations there were?
              A.  If I remember rightly, there were 9 or 10 research
    19        recommendations.  There were about 114 recommendations on,
              or it may be more -- it is over 100 recommendations on
    20        improvements required including regulations or codes.
              I am not sure how many other recommendations there were,
    21        but it amounted to approximately 150 recommendations in
              all, I believe, that sort of order.
    22
         Q.   So there was a fair bit of concern at the time then?
    23        A.  Yes, and they highlighted the weaknesses of the
              systems as practised at that time.
    24
         Q.   Right.  Do you know when or if those recommendations were
    25        put into effect?
              A.  There were rather a large number of them.  Some were 
    26        reacted to by producing a code of practice.  There are two 
              codes of practice relating to revenue slaughter.  One is 
    27        to do with the layout of the slaughter premises; the other
              is to do with the equipment and stunning procedures and
    28        slaughtering procedures?
              A.  They have produced a new order under a statutory
    29        instrument which came out in 1990 which is at the moment
              being revised.  They have initiated and sponsored a
    30        research.  They have through the state veterinary service,
              I would say, improved upon the awareness of the

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