Day 106 - 23 Mar 95 - Page 51
1 it is corrected to 20 per cent. Either it was mistold or
2 I misheard or mis-remembered. I am prepared to accept that
3 I either misheard or mis-remembered. The one thing that
4 did strike me was the way the various consignments were
5 blended to standardise the fat content. Fat content
6 apparently is quite an important physical parameter for the
7 cookability of the burgers. Therefore, that struck me also
8 as another process which, effectively, shared the
9 contamination room; another opportunity for sharing
10 contamination. This is another facet of the
11 industrialisation of the process is where the consistency
12 of product, that control of contamination is essentially
13 sacrificed to consistency. The important parameter there
14 is consistency, not contamination loading.
15
16 Q. What is your view on the sampling procedures of the raw
17 meat arriving at McKey's?
18 A. I have had an opportunity to scan a lot of the
19 documents and there is a large amount of sampling there
20 which tends to be ritualistic. There are a lot of TVCs
21 taken, Total Viable Counts, which are interesting but of
22 marginal use. I understand from the documents that they
23 are looking at various parameters, TVC being only one.
24 I think it might help if I refer to the appropriate
25 document.
26
27 MS. STEEL: It might be tab 3.
28
29 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Which volume?
30
31 THE WITNESS: This is volume VIII, tab 3. That can be read in
32 conjunction, my Lord, with tab 10 which is the book extract
33 on which, if I can refer you to page 133, the fourth page
34 in is table 19 in the sampling plan. Now essentially -----
35
36 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That is page 91 of the bundle, is it, at the
37 bottom?
38
39 THE WITNESS: That is the number on it, yes, my Lord. The
40 sampling plan referred to on page 91 is a sampling plan
41 directed to getting a realistic assessment of the TVC, the
42 Total Viable Count. It was for that purpose that it was
43 designed. However, it is not a realistic programme and not
44 a realistic sampling plan for identifying specific
45 pathogens, viz. E.coli and specifically E.coli 0157, or
46 perfringens, staphylococcus or salmonella, and particularly
47 salmonella. I note no tests are taken on campylobacter.
48 Now for some many years the Ministry ----
49
50 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What was the second one you mentioned?
51 A. E.coli clostridium perfringens, that is the third on
52 the list, staphylococci or salmonella.
53
54 Q. I am not sure I have been following you. What sampling
55 plan is used for that?
56 A. Well, the list on page 38 gives in the first column N
57 which it marks down as five. That five in the first
58 against aerobic mesophile bacteria relates back to page 91
59 where, again, you will see across the column five another N
60 which says five.
