Day 021 - 29 Jul 94 - Page 39
1
Q. But in terms of diet and disease, would you say that for
2 McDonald's there is a trade-off between achieving safety
and the costs involved? Would you say that is a true
3 statement regarding diet?
A. Let me put it this way: If one was looking at a
4 particular product with a view to reducing the amount of
saturated fats, or the amount of total fats, and this is a
5 proposal which is taken by the people in McDonald's, there
are going to be other factors involved. And, I mean,
6 there is no doubt that these will include the question of
whether or not it is feasible to do it. It may include a
7 cost factor and, of course, it may include a logistics
factor. For example, in order to reduce the amount of
8 saturated fat in the chips, one way of doing this is to
move from a solid fat to a liquid one, because the liquid
9 one would have less saturated fat in it. That then has
implications for the way in which you handle it and that,
10 in turn, may have cost implications. Then, of course, the
other factor to take into account is the taste of the
11 final product, because if that is not acceptable to the
customers, then they will not buy it.
12
Q. Take, for example, all the recommendations about diet and
13 disease say that fruit is good for you?
A. Yes.
14
Q. Especially fresh fruit, yes?
15 A. Well, yes.
16 Q. And McDonald's care about nutrition and these matters,
yes?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. They take seriously the government recommendation and
health of the nation?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. So let us give one very simple example: Tomorrow ever
McDonald's in the country could have a fruit bowl as part
21 of the choices for customers; it could happen in ten
minutes in every McDonald's in the country. So why do not
22 McDonald's do that, or have you advised them to do that?
You are a nutritionist; have you advised them that would
23 be -----
A. No, I have not advised them to do that, but I think
24 you have to consider these various proposals in the light
of the type of business that McDonald's operate. It is
25 not, first of all, it is not necessarily easy just to
provide that facility, because it has to be sourced and
26 arrangements have to be made for the products to be
purchased and distributed to all the stores, and various
27 checks have to be made to ensure that the correct
standards are achieved and, at the end of the day, people
28 have to purchase them.
29 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think this is getting down to argument as
to what we are about. I mean, if you can imagine a
30 panorama of providers of food, at one end you might have a
hospital whose kitchens are basically the only source of
