Day 102 - 13 Mar 95 - Page 54
1 is where the line stops for some emergency reason and
2 manual killing continues. I can see that, suppose you have
3 a dozen birds which have been through the stunning bath,
4 but when it is stops have not got to the cutter, then those
5 are killed manually?
6 A. Yes.
7
8 Q. However many there are?
9 A. Yes.
10
11 Q. Because there they are?
12 A. That is right.
13
14 Q. Literally in limbo?
15 A. Yes.
16
17 Q. Under what circumstances would the line then be started up
18 again with chickens being shackled, going through the
19 stunning bath and then being killed manually, the cutter
20 having been bypassed, presumably, and then on down the
21 line; does that happen?
22 A. Well, I must say that I have never seen that happen and
23 I have never seen the cutter, the neck cutter, out of
24 action. The line is usually stopped for some other
25 reason. The neck cutter itself is not a piece of equipment
26 that we would normally expect to have problems with. So,
27 this provision for manual killing, I think, is literally an
28 emergency of which I have never actually had experience.
29
30 MS. STEEL: The company also does allow killing; is that right?
31 A. That is correct, yes.
32
33 Q. Have you seen that?
34 A. No, I have not actually been present when the
35 appropriate religious people have been there. But, in
36 fact, for various reasons that I do not understand, these
37 religious people do accept that stunning in an operation
38 such as ours does have to take place. So, they will accept
39 stunned meat.
40
41 Q. Is that the standard procedure -- well, if you have not
42 seen it. If the tracks break down the birds are put back
43 in the crates, are they; is that right?
44 A. Yes. That is correct. That has to be done.
45
46 Q. How fast does the line move normally when everything is
47 working smoothly?
48 A. The normal rate, I think, is four-and-a-half thousand
49 birds per hour.
50
51 Q. Is there a different rate for evisceration?
52 A. No, it is the rate of the line. Obviously, all the
53 processes have to be carried out continuously, so there is
54 no different rate for that.
55
56 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That is on two lines?
57 A. That is on two lines.
58
59 Q. So each line part of the four-and-a-half thousand?
60 A. Each line are working at four-and-a-half thousand
