Day 290 - 30 Oct 96 - Page 33
1 evidence from Dr. Gregory that generally the UK has better
2 or slightly more humane systems than the USA. Yes, and
3 obviously Dr. Gregory was misinformed by being only shown
4 the outdoor system when he made his visit to Bowes to
5 prepare a report for this court case.
6
7 All in all, I would say that McDonald's have deliberately
8 tried to mislead the court about the source of the pork
9 used in their products. That is obviously because they
10 feel they have something to hide. They recognise that
11 people would find the conditions that the pigs are reared
12 in to be unacceptable, if they got to hear about them.
13
14 Anyway, just to finish that quote of Mr. Bowes, he did say
15 if there was a surplus, McKeys stand a chance to have
16 some. He went on to say: "On the other hand, if it is all
17 used up, they will have all other pork, indoor pork."
18 Basically, McKeys would get outdoor pork only if there was
19 some left over.
20
21 MR. JUSTICE BELL: And even the outdoor pork is half in and half
22 out.
23
24 MS. STEEL: Is indoors for half of its life. (Pause)
25
26 Just while we are on the subject of the United States,
27 there is some evidence from Mr. Bowes about conditions on
28 pig farms in the United States on day 96, page 24. He said
29 that he had visited pig farms in the United States and that
30 the unit did use farrowing crates which were very similar
31 to what the norm was. Presumably he is talking about the
32 UK norm. Well, he is talking about the UK norm. They had
33 invited him over there to get advice from him in terms of
34 introducing things that were an improvement in terms of
35 welfare.
36
37 We did ask Mr. Bowes on day 96, page 29, about whether or
38 not McDonald's had asked to be supplied with the free range
39 pigs even before the Freedom Food system, just free range
40 pigs in general, and he said it had been discussed in the
41 past but it was not taken up. I said: "So they were not
42 willing to pay as much as Tesco's were paying", and he
43 said: "I wish they would."
44
45 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Was that with McDonald's or McKeys?
46
47 MS. STEEL: It actually says "McDonald's" in the transcript.
48 Presumably it was through McKeys. He did actually say
49 earlier on that he did not have direct links with
50 McDonald's. (Pause)
51
52 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
53
54 MS. STEEL: I need to sort out the papers. I don't know
55 whether it is appropriate to have the break now?
56
57 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I would like you to keep going. I do not
58 really want to break off for the whole of the rest of the
59 day now, but I would like you to make an intelligent
60 estimate of what might make the difference to help you keep
