Day 294 - 05 Nov 96 - Page 31


     
     1        minced meat.
     2
     3        She had worked as an experienced official veterinary
     4        surgeon at Jarrett's, that supplied McKeys for McDonald's
     5        use, and she had been brought in specially, the court
     6        heard, to deal with shortcomings at the slaughter house,
     7        and she described several discrepancies between official
     8        regulations and actual practice at the plants, including
     9        poor hygiene, improper inspection, and higher than
    10        recommended storage temperatures, all of which could
    11        contribute to contamination and bacterial growth in the raw
    12        material for McDonald's beef burgers.
    13
    14        And rather than welcoming the opportunity that she was
    15        giving them to improve their food safety conditions, which,
    16        if the food industry was committed to those matters, they
    17        would have welcomed her, she was sacked.
    18        The issue was the BSE non-traceability of supplies, but it
    19        was clear that she was meeting resistance because she was
    20        suggesting improvements as an experienced OVS who had
    21        worked in a number of countries.
    22
    23        So that was not a particularly brilliant order, but before
    24        I come on to the actual employment conditions side of the
    25        part of the equation, I think we have established at every
    26        stage in the live animals in the slaughter process in the
    27        production up to the back door of the store, that
    28        everything that is said and implied in the leaflet is true,
    29        despite them being part of the words complained of by
    30        McDonald's and despite McDonald's heroic attempt to deny
    31        what I have just been saying by bringing their own
    32        witnesses.
    33
    34        They did not have to defend slaughter house conditions or
    35        production, rearing and slaughter methods as regards
    36        hygiene as well as welfare.  They chose to take on this as
    37        an issue and it is a testament, we would say, to the
    38        strength of the fact sheet that it held up one hundred
    39        percent and we believe we have demonstrated our case, and
    40        now the remaining additional issue is the potential for
    41        undercooking of the food as well.
    42
    43        I have already spoken about that in terms of the fragility
    44        and the flawed nature of the system and the specifications
    45        and that is only really emphasised by the reality of what
    46        actually goes on inside the stores.  It is not really any
    47        surprise, because the workers are paid very little money,
    48        66 percent of them are under the age of 21, inexperienced,
    49        they are bossed around, and working under very great
    50        pressure they have to learn how to use dozens of pieces of
    51        equipment and processes that require what we have seen,
    52        these OCLs, which maybe, if you worked there for six months
    53        or a year, you might get on top of, but, as we have heard,
    54        the turnover is huge at McDonald's, many people working for
    55        just a few weeks.
    56
    57        And inevitably, basically, the fragility of the procedures
    58        is bound to be breached, transgressed or whatever on a
    59        regular basis.  In case any of the workers want to do
    60        anything about, for example, higher staffing levels, more

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