Day 069 - 19 Dec 94 - Page 68


     
     1
     2   MR. MORRIS:  When you visit feed lots and you say you are
     3        concerned about animal welfare, if those animals do not
     4        belong to you, you are saying you are concerned about that,
     5        so you must feel some kind of -----
     6        A.  I did not say I am not concerned.  I said there is
     7        nothing I can do about it.  I do not even know when they
     8        are in a feed lot.  We buy very small amounts of meat from
     9        feed lots.  If you want to go back to Australia, we do not
    10        buy beef from feed lots, being a feed lot adds cost to the
    11        meat that we do not need.  That meat is basically the high
    12        quality meat that there is no need for us.  So, I have
    13        absolutely no control over a feed lot -- very limited.  All
    14        that I can say is I can show some concerns that they might
    15        or might not show some response to our concerns, especially
    16        when it comes to feed lots.
    17
    18   Q.   Make claims about being concerned about the welfare of
    19        animals?
    20        A.  Yes, we are.
    21
    22   Q.   Of animals that end up at McDonald's but you do not own
    23        them?
    24        A.  That is correct.
    25
    26   Q.   So why should you be concerned about what happens on farms
    27        and feed lots?
    28        A.  We are concerned because some of those and the ones
    29        that we know are going to end up with us, we have very
    30        strong relationship with most of our suppliers.  In the
    31        case of Tyson, it is a facility that has been in operation
    32        for over 12 years.  It is a good facility that will produce
    33        product for us.  We have concern about how the animals are
    34        treated because it is a facility that we call it dedicated
    35        to us.  In addition to that, they sell products to other
    36        facilities.  In those cases the majority of the product
    37        goes to us.  The supplier will not separate and make any
    38        difference about the way they treat the animals or the way
    39        they raise the animals.
    40
    41        So, we have some concerns and there are also some business
    42        issues that we have to take into consideration if we are
    43        going to be responsible at the end.  When we sell a product
    44        we are responsible, even if it is not our fault, we are at
    45        fault.  We have to do as much as possible, let us say, in
    46        the case of a food-borne illness to prevent that.  We have
    47        a business relationship because we are concerned.  We
    48        learn, whatever we learn from Tyson, and it has been
    49        transferred to other countries, I personally have taken
    50        that, I have done that.  I have sent people from Tyson to 
    51        other countries to help those people develop their 
    52        industries.  That is a concern that I have not seen in any 
    53        other industry, in the food industry.
    54
    55   MR. MORRIS:  That is especially in developing countries?
    56        A.  Could be developed, could be under-developed.
    57
    58   Q.   I mean developing?
    59        A.  I have said Tyson ----
    60

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