Day 092 - 27 Feb 95 - Page 68
1 word.
2
3 MS. STEEL: He has actually said it more than once.
4 A. I said I retracted what I said. I said I probably used
5 the wrong word, is what I said. The better word would be
6 "comfortable".
7
8 Q. Comfortable?
9 A. Yes.
10
11 Q. How can you tell it is comfortable?
12 A. Just by looking at it. It is a healthy animal. If you
13 have seen our broilers, there are broilers that are
14 healthy, that look good, they stand good. I do not know of
15 any other measurement to say whether or not the animal that
16 is comfortable is healthy. If it is healthy most animals
17 will be comfortable.
18
19 Q. Why do you make the assumption they are comfortable because
20 they are healthy?
21 A. It is simple. It is common sense. We do more than
22 anybody else. Our suppliers, I know of no other suppliers
23 that spend more time, more money into research into
24 developing practices to make sure that the animals are
25 comfortable and live comfortable. That is part of taking
26 care of the animal. We know their needs, physiological
27 needs, nutrition needs, lighting. We control the
28 environment. We do a lot of the things that most people do
29 not do in the business. Those animals, when you look at
30 them, are healthy. It is a pretty good indication that the
31 animals are comfortable and they are OK.
32
33 Q. That is an assumption you are making?
34 A. Those are the facts.
35
36 Q. Have you experimented with putting the birds outside?
37 A. Personally, no.
38
39 Q. Not as a company?
40 A. No.
41
42 Q. No?
43 A. No, not as a company. Again some of the suppliers
44 have. McDonald's, no, we have not.
45
46 Q. McDonald's has not done that?
47 A. No.
48
49 Q. And none of McDonald's suppliers have done that?
50 A. Some of them.
51
52 Q. Well, I thought there were only two?
53 A. US, no. We have never seen the need for that.
54
55 Q. So you would not know whether they preferred being indoors
56 or outdoors?
57 A. No. It is not a matter of preference. Again, you have
58 to look at the entire animal. One of the things that we
59 try in the industry in general, we try to spend a lot of
60 effort, is to prevent the animal from being on the
