Day 069 - 19 Dec 94 - Page 55
1 A. I have said before, it is perfectly legal to use that
2 as a source of feed. I do not know what else to say.
3
4 Q. Say, for example, the environment/index.html">litter from broiler houses.
5 Mr. Gregory, the Plaintiffs' expert, when he gave evidence,
6 said that sometimes the environment/index.html">litter from the broilers did get
7 mixed in to feed to the cattle?
8 A. Yes. It is a good source of protein, so it can be used
9 with cattle. Cattle have a totally different digestive
10 system than humans that would allow it to digest that kind
11 of protein and transform it into meat; that is unique to
12 them. Humans cannot do that.
13
14 Q. Have you seen that, or do you know that that does not
15 happen with McDonald's food?
16 A. No, I do not know that.
17
18 Q. You would find that acceptable?
19 A. Yes, I find it acceptable; and there has been a lot of
20 research documented that it is perfectly all right to use
21 it.
22
23 Q. Are you aware of concerns about botulism from the use of
24 feeding poultry environment/index.html">litter to cattle?
25 A. Am I concerned about it?
26
27 Q. I said: are you aware of concerns about the spread of
28 botulism through that?
29 A. I would be very surprised. Am I concerned? No.
30 Botulism is a different bacteria that grows under an
31 environment which does not have any air. Most commonly,
32 you can find it in canned foods, where there is no air.
33 Where you have air, especially in chicken environment/index.html">litter, and when
34 you have it, it will not grow.
35
36 Also, in addition to that, it is a very weak microorganism
37 that is not competitive, so just about any other bacteria
38 present will inhibit their growth. The only chance they
39 have of growing is in an environment in which they are the
40 only ones, such as, it could happen in canned foods. But
41 on environment/index.html">litter, that is not my concern and I have no concern for
42 that.
43
44 I might add, botulism is a disease. It has never been
45 reported, as far as I know, an outbreak of botulism,
46 because of use of chicken manure.
47
48 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do you want to take the five-minute break
49 there?
50
51 MS. STEEL: Yes.
52
53 MR. JUSTICE BELL: When we resume and you continue your
54 cross-examination, look for a time around four o'clock to
55 break.
56
57 (Short Adjournment)
58
59 MS. STEEL: You mentioned that you have been to Australia and
60 seen some of the operations there?
