Day 295 - 06 Nov 96 - Page 24


     
     1        For example, if you look at the page 9 document, for the
     2        12th January 1994, which is the second column, there were
     3        two tests on that day with two different results.  One was
     4        going to Holland and one was going to Denmark.  And we know
     5        that they supply McDonald's in -- I think that was for
     6        McDonald's, anyway it does not make any difference, the
     7        point being that they are testing one patty per delivery.
     8        Presumably that satisfies the negligence test, because they
     9        can say, "well, we made a test of each consignment", but it
    10        is effectively useless.
    11
    12        And I think I did bring up at the time when you said I
    13        could ask you in closing speeches to draw whatever
    14        conclusion I felt appropriate, and I ask you to draw the
    15        conclusion that it is not really -- in the context of the
    16        evidence of the case, it is not that significant, because,
    17        as has become apparent, the testing is more a formality
    18        than any kind of efficient even monitoring system, but in
    19        terms of my challenge to Mr. Walker, I felt it was
    20        important to bring it up.
    21
    22   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    23
    24   MR. MORRIS:   So that is all on that document.  (Pause)
    25
    26   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Can I put that away?
    27
    28   MR. MORRIS:   Yes, I have finished with that, thank you very
    29        much.  Now, I am just going to quickly mention a few more
    30        documents, really not in any particularly sensible order,
    31        but just to flag some up.
    32
    33        There was the document which was looked at, Food Safety
    34        Guide, from the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food,
    35        which you may remember.  I cannot remember.  I am sorry for
    36        not having the reference, but it referred to -- it is
    37        called Food Safety and referred to cooking food.  First
    38        bullet point:  Cooking food thoroughly so that the
    39        temperature at the centre reaches at least 70 degrees
    40        Celsius for at least two minutes kills most harmful
    41        bacteria that could cause food poisoning.
    42
    43        I would just say that was a public guide.  That goes with
    44        the E.Coli report, official report that is obviously a
    45        thousand more times more detailed and more authoritative.
    46        But that was saying the same, before that report was
    47        brought out.  I think the date of this was October 1992.
    48        That is what it says on the back.
    49
    50        The next document I wanted to mention again was the
    51        document which came up a few times in cross-examination.  I
    52        believe I have the reference for it.  It was the memo from
    53        John Atherton on beef integrity, 20th May 1993.  It is pink
    54        volume 8, tab 18, section C.  This memo, which was put to,
    55        I think to Mr. Atherton himself, was a question/answer memo
    56        to all restaurant managers.  They were changing the system
    57        from grill calibration, relying on grill calibration to
    58        ensure that the meat actually did reach the minimum
    59        temperature which McDonald's set.  They are changing that
    60        to one of internal thermometer testing.

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