Day 102 - 13 Mar 95 - Page 51
1 A. Just because it is a better design; it is more suitable
2 for the job. I mean, I have seen producers working on huge
3 weight ranges of birds going into the factory with no
4 change in shackle, simply because the design is there to
5 accommodate several different sizes of birds.
6
7 Q. The shackles that you had were not designed to accommodate
8 several different sizes of birds, were they?
9 A. As I say, they have a tapered shape which will allow
10 you a certain amount of flexibility.
11
12 Q. Yes, but they were not designed for that?
13 A. All I am saying is that when we redesigned the system
14 it was an opportunity to have the shackles of the
15 appropriate size, both for males and females, which would
16 do a more effective job.
17
18 Q. The size of the shackles -- I mean, if the birds are caused
19 pain are they more likely to flap their wings?
20 A. I think you could possibly say that is a possibility.
21
22 Q. Which could cause other problems with the slaughter process
23 ---
24 A. Yes.
25
26 Q. -- and the quality of the meat at the end?
27 A. Yes.
28
29 Q. So that was a concern when you changed the shackles?
30 A. Yes.
31
32 Q. Can you just explain on page 85 of the yellow bundle?
33 A. Yes.
34
35 Q. No. 1 on that page it says: "Remove any loose feet in
36 shackle". Can you just explain that?
37 A. When the birds -- a shackle line is a continuous system
38 through the factory. At various stages various procedures
39 are carried out; one of them obviously is that the birds'
40 feet are cut off and the birds drop on to belts. The feet
41 are removed from the shackle by a sort of rotating spoke
42 thing that pushes them out. Occasionally odd feet get left
43 like that and go round the system so they get removed
44 manually.
45
46 Q. Under No. 5 it says: "Hang bird on to shackle by both
47 feet. Any bird hung by one leg must be corrected otherwise
48 bird will be incorrectly stunned and killed". Is that
49 something that is fairly frequent when shackling is taking
50 place, that the bird will just end up being ---
51 A. Hung by one leg?
52
53 Q. -- hung by one leg.
54 A. No.
55
56 Q. How often does that happen then?
57 A. Well, it does not happen very often. I have
58 occasionally seen it. The whole point about this task
59 procedure is to tell people it is very important to hang
60 them by both legs. The only time I have seen it is where a
