Day 246 - 09 May 96 - Page 54
1 the article which is fresh and which Mr. Preston might
2 answer by adding to the fuel of information in the case, so
3 be it. That is why I wanted you to put your point to him.
4
5 MS. STEEL: The implication of the last paragraph Mr. Preston,
6 is that McDonald's does not have an answer to the question
7 about a link in the fat rate in McDonald's food to heart
8 disease. Was that basically the situation?
9 A. I think that is a big step to say it implies that.
10 I think we do have an answer to it and it is so
11 straightforward you do not have to put it down on paper.
12 The same follows for the junk food comment. It is so
13 straightforward you do not have to commit it to paper.
14
15 Q. Did you in fact introduce test products such as pizzas and
16 salads in the hospital?
17 A. I do not think we did pizzas. We may have done
18 salads. Salads were not a test per se. It was an
19 extension of an existing test going on throughout much of
20 London and certain other parts of the country. I am not
21 sure about pizzas. I do not think we had pizzas there
22 but I am not 100 per cent sure. Certainly that would not
23 have been the first store where they occurred, if they
24 occurred at all. They would have been much more widely
25 spread prior to the Guys Hospital location opening.
26
27 Q. Just while we have got this bundle open, if you could turn
28 to tab 91. This is the advert I was referring to this
29 morning. It is true McDonald's rely on chemicals and in
30 the second column, the thrust of the advertisement is that
31 the chemicals that you rely on are for cleaning and then in
32 the second column the advert says:
33
34 "We are equally confident that you will not eat anything
35 you would rather not eat. Although chemicals play an
36 important part in our kitchens they have a very small part
37 in our food."
38
39 Do you remember this advertisement now?
40 A. I do.
41
42 Q. If you turn to tab 92, this is a ruling from the
43 Advertising Standard Authority on 14th November 1990 where
44 a complaint by a member of the public was upheld and the
45 ASA said that they considered the advertisement to be
46 misleading in that it gave a strong indication that the
47 only chemical used in food preparation by McDonald's was a
48 stabiliser. The authority requested that if similar
49 advertisements appeared in the future, the claims be
50 amended accordingly.
51
52 Do you remember that criticism from the Advertising
53 Standards Authority now?
54 A. I do not remember the criticism, but I remember the ad.
55
56 MR. MORRIS: That might be a good time to have a 5-minute break.
57
58 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. Bear in mind what I have said. You
59 will want to progress your case but, in my view, you will
60 only do it at this stage in what has been a very long trial
