Day 077 - 25 Jan 95 - Page 45


     
     1        is, concerned -- you are in charge of this operation?
     2        A.  Yes.
     3
     4   Q.   You perhaps recognise that you have, as I think you said
     5        earlier this morning, a responsibility for your customers'
     6        well-being?
     7        A.  Absolutely.
     8
     9   Q.   Or the ultimate consumers anyway.  It does not the business
    10        any good if you are killing people on a regular basis, does
    11        it?
    12        A.  No.
    13
    14   Q.   That is not meant humorously.  So, it may be that you could
    15        be expected to have some knowledge of the subject?
    16        A.  True.
    17
    18   Q.   McDonald's insist that their is meat is E.coli free, in
    19        effect; is that right?
    20        A.  Yes.
    21
    22   Q.   I think that is the effect of what you told us.  Is that
    23        something which has only been introduced since the Preston
    24        incident in 1991?
    25        A.  Yes, to say that it must be positive release, yes.  May
    26        I add something to that, sir?
    27
    28   Q.   Yes, please do?
    29        A.  What is very important to realise, though, is
    30        McDonald's meat is frozen so quickly and it is never served
    31        to the customer until it is treated with heat.
    32
    33   Q.   With heat?
    34        A.  And E.coli is very heat sensitive.
    35
    36   Q.   I was coming in a moment to what one might call the stages
    37        in the life of a bacillus or a group or colony -----
    38
    39   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  There was a phrase I did not quite catch,
    40        Mr. Rampton.  When you were asked if it had only been
    41        introduced since the Preston incident in 1991, you said it
    42        must be positive?
    43
    44   MR. RAMPTON:  "Release".
    45
    46   THE WITNESS:  Positive release, sir.
    47
    48   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What does that mean?
    49        A.  You will not release out to the customer a batch of
    50        product until that batch has been cleared by the 
    51        laboratory. 
    52 
    53   MR. RAMPTON:  Do your other customers make a similar kind of
    54        fuss about this?
    55        A.  No.
    56
    57   Q.   I believe it right to say that you supply the United States
    58        Air Force in this country; is that right?
    59        A.  We did, yes.
    60

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