Day 079 - 27 Jan 95 - Page 63


     
     1        this part just says that meat is responsible for the
     2        majority of cases of food poisoning, and then there is also
     3        the part about "at worse poisonous".  So it is relevant to
     4        how likely it is to happen and all that kind of stuff.
     5
     6   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  But can you answer my question?
     7
     8   MS. STEEL:  There is an incident, the one we were referring to
     9        this morning in Michigan for starters.
    10
    11   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  But that is not McKey.  You are questioning
    12        the Chairman Chief Executive of McKey Food Services.
    13
    14   MS. STEEL:   Well, there is an incident of food poisoning on the
    15        Isle of Wight as well.  I do not know whether that is
    16        E.coli.  In the Preston report it does mention that if it
    17        is only a mild form of food poisoning it would not
    18        necessarily be identified as E.coli even though it could
    19        have been caused by that.
    20
    21   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I understand that.  I really think you have
    22        so much detail now and you are searching everywhere for a
    23        possible loophole.  An end has got to come to that search
    24        in a way, and then you have your information about that.
    25        Then I have to see what might have slipped through the
    26        loophole, if it exists.  If I see what might have slipped
    27        through a loophole that might encourage me to find that
    28        there actually was one to slip through.  It is a whole
    29        parcel of factors and aspects of the evidence.  We are
    30        spending an awful lot of time searching for the minutia of
    31        the way McKey works.
    32
    33   MR. MORRIS:  Part of the problem is that the Plaintiffs raised a
    34        defence, well, a defence if you like, to our case.
    35        Mr. Walker's statement was very long looking at all parts
    36        of the process.  Our case has been pretty simple, which is
    37        that meat is responsible for X food poisoning incidents and
    38        that McDonald's food is at best mediocre and at worst
    39        poisonous.  The worse case scenario has already happened
    40        because of the Preston incident which is admitted.  Now we
    41        are having to deal ----
    42
    43   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Let me interrupt you again because you have a
    44        witness who has been around McKey's, an expert who has been
    45        around McKey's, have you not?
    46
    47   MR. MORRIS:  Yes, but did he not have access to documents.
    48
    49   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You are not asking about documents.  You are
    50        asking the processes.  He did see those as far as I can 
    51        understand. 
    52 
    53   MR. MORRIS:  Yes, but, with respect, he was told a lot of the
    54        things but we cannot test that unless we have someone from
    55        McKey's.
    56
    57   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I think you have gone far enough on asking
    58        the detail about the processes there.  If you have got
    59        another matter in the process you want to ask about, let me
    60        know what it is because we cannot just go on indefinitely

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