Day 096 - 03 Mar 95 - Page 32
1 a down-graded meat.
2
3 Q. I appreciate that, but I thought you made a large part of
4 your money by selling things other than shoulder to
5 supermarkets at a higher price?
6 A. Yes, compared to the supermarket prices, it is
7 discounted roughly 25 to 30 per cent on average to what the
8 supermarket price is.
9
10 Q. I am afraid I have just run up against a wall because
11 I appreciate that in relation to shoulder of pork, but
12 there must be some other part of the pig, and I am not an
13 adequate butcher to know which costs more than a shoulder
14 of pork?
15 A. Yes, OK, well, take the loin that goes into chops.
16
17 Q. Yes, compare it with that. What is the basic proportion
18 and then you have a discount anyway?
19 A. That would be roughly a 40 per cent discount, so a loin
20 of pork that goes into chops.
21
22 MS. STEEL: What would be the difference in price between a
23 shoulder of pork from an indoor reared pig and a shoulder
24 of pork from a Freedom Food pig?
25 A. The cost of production would be about 15 to 20 per cent
26 more.
27
28 Q. So that is how much a customer would pay more?
29 A. That is what we try to make them pay.
30
31 MR. JUSTICE BELL: If I seemed impatient, it was frustration
32 with my own inability rather than yours as a witness,
33 Mr. Bowes.
34 A. That is quite all right, sir.
35
36 MR. MORRIS: It is still relevant to know 15 per cent of what
37 because it is relevant to know what percentage of the final
38 product price sold by McDonald's that would be. So, how
39 much do McDonald's pay? It does not have to be to the
40 nearest penny.
41
42 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, I am going to rule against you on that
43 because I think this has got very far away from what is in
44 the leaflet. If you demonstrate at the end of the day that
45 -- I will use the adjective -- an inhumane practice
46 prevails, it may well be that you do not have to worry
47 about the commercial balance at all. But what you are
48 setting out to prove is the inhumane practices in the first
49 place. You may well do quite well on the argument that if
50 it is humane, it is just too bad if it is unprofitable.
51
52 MS. STEEL: In the pamphlet it says that many weaners are
53 bought in for the finishing herd?
54 A. Yes.
55
56 Q. So are they bought at the age of three weeks?
57 A. Yes -- no, no, for the finishing herd? No, they are
58 bought in at 30 kilograms.
59
60 Q. 30 kilograms.
