Day 077 - 25 Jan 95 - Page 57
1 analysis and taken all this care since the Preston outbreak
2 in January?
3 A. No, that is not true. We have had these high standards
4 in bacteria and total counts, to my knowledge, since 1988.
5
6 Q. How long have you had -----
7 A. 1978, I beg your pardon.
8
9 Q. I was going to ask you, how long have you had a laboratory
10 on your premises capable of carrying out microbiological
11 analysis?
12 A. Since 1980 -- 1981, sir, when the new plant was built.
13
14 Q. Has that laboratory been in service as well as being
15 available during the period since then?
16 A. Oh, yes. We also have a duplicate laboratory at
17 Scunthorpe.
18
19 Q. I should have asked about Scunthorpe. When was Scunthorpe
20 built?
21 A. 1990.
22
23 Q. You have the pink file VIII in front of you, can you turn
24 to tab 5 please? You should find there a number of sheets,
25 the first two I think are probably not filled in?
26 A. Correct.
27
28 Q. The succeeding ones are, I think?
29 A. Yes.
30
31 Q. Tell us, please, what are these sheets? What do they
32 represent? They are headed "McDonald's Quality Control
33 Summary", but they look as though they are McKey documents?
34 A. They are McKey documents.
35
36 Q. What are they?
37 A. Well, on every batch of burgers or burger meat that
38 goes through the plant, there is a series of standard tests
39 carried out to ensure that each batch and each finished
40 burgers are up to specification, specification in terms of
41 fat content, the microbiological analysis, the number of
42 burgers in each box, because as well as obtaining weight on
43 dispatch we have to get the burger numbers right, so that
44 each store gets the right number of sandwiches from each 30
45 pound box.
46
47 Q. Then you appear to evaluate the cooking quality as well?
48 A. We cook from every batch in the laboratory on an
49 absolute mirror of a McDonald's system. It is a McDonald's
50 grill. We cook from every batch to check the flavour,
51 texture and cooking appearance.
52
53 Q. Do you cook them then for the prescribed amount of time?
54 A. Oh, yes.
55
56 Q. Such as you find in the McDonald's operation?
57 A. Yes, absolutely.
58
59 MR. JUSTICE BELL: From time to time you have referred to
60 testing batches, the veterinary surgeon test for fit for
