Day 091 - 17 Feb 95 - Page 55


     
     1   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes, we understand all that, but then how do
     2        we get to the neck skin more than the other deboned meat?
     3        Is that because there is a greater risk of contamination of
     4        the neck skin for some reason?
     5        A.  Yes, there is.  The bird is hanging upside-down.  All
     6        the material drains to the bottom.  The neck skin is the
     7        ultimate place where contamination could occur.
     8
     9   MR. MORRIS:  That would be after evisceration?
    10        A.  Yes.
    11
    12   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  These things are not always obvious unless
    13        you spend half your life in these places.
    14
    15   MS. STEEL:   Salmonella burden in the deboned meat, is that
    16        going to be the same as the isolation rate from the neck?
    17        A.  It is going to be fairly similar because the deboned
    18        meat, obviously, has to be handled quite a lot and again
    19        there is a risk of cross-contamination.  The meat itself at
    20        the actual slaughter stage is probably not very
    21        contaminated, but it does become contaminated after the
    22        deboning process, that all the handling that is required.
    23        You have to remember that we are not doing a quantitative
    24        test for salmonella.  All we are doing is a test for the
    25        presence or absence.
    26
    27   Q.   So when the isolation rate was 30 per cent on the neck,
    28        what would have been the typical salmonella burden in the
    29        deboned meat?
    30        A.  Normally probably around 20 to 25 per cent.
    31
    32   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  So back to our 20 to 25.  You find it in the
    33        gut of 1 per cent of the birds?
    34        A.  Yes.
    35
    36   Q.   In so far as you test that.  You have to eviscerate the
    37        bird.  You have a lot of handling.  The neck stands the
    38        best chance of all the areas of the bird of being
    39        contaminated.  There is your end result of 30 per cent.
    40        The rest of the bird stands a fair prospect of being
    41        contaminated but not quite to the same extent, there is
    42        your 20 to 25 per cent?
    43        A.  That is correct, yes.
    44
    45   MS. STEEL:  How often is Campylobacter found in chickens?
    46        A.  Campylobacter is quite a common organism.  It is found
    47        as a natural contaminant of the intestinal tracts.
    48
    49   Q.   So it is found in virtually all chickens?
    50        A.  Most of the surveys that have been done by Public 
    51        Health Laboratory and so on have found about 70 per cent 
    52        isolation rate on raw poultry. 
    53
    54   Q.   That would be typical for Sun Valley as well?
    55        A.  Yes, we would be no different.
    56
    57   Q.   Does that have any effect on the chickens?
    58        A.  No, it does not affect them at all.
    59
    60   Q.   To cause food poisoning in humans, it only needs a low

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