Day 106 - 23 Mar 95 - Page 48


     
     1
     2   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Could I just make sure I understand one thing
     3        you have said?  You said the ideal way to transport meat is
     4        in separate carcasses?
     5        A.  Yes, I believe that to be so.
     6
     7   Q.   So you are saying that McKey's should have deboning in
     8        their plant, rather than allow it to be deboned at the
     9        abattoir, are you, because that is what happens, is it not?
    10        A.  Yes.  Whether it is commercially or economically
    11        realistic, I somewhat doubt, but the ideal is basically the
    12        traditional way.  We have small abattoirs linked to a known
    13        limited number of farms where the whole carcass is
    14        transported to whatever butchers, where parts are used as
    15        primal cuts and the others are then processed virtually on
    16        the site, minimising transport and giving you an
    17        identifiable sequence right through the chain.
    18
    19        We did find this, you do read this in the old reports of
    20        food poisoning outbreaks.  You get food poisoning in the
    21        local community; you go down to the single butcher and you
    22        find the particular cow or the particular beast he handled
    23        on the day, and within hours you are on the actual farm and
    24        dealing on the farm with the problem, being able to trace
    25        it back.
    26
    27        What you lose out of this concentration, this
    28        industrialisation process, is you lose that facility and
    29        its intensification creates a public health problem which
    30        has been noted by many, many authorities.
    31
    32        So McKey's, and then to the shop ----
    33
    34   MS. STEEL:  Sorry, whilst you were at McKey's, what type of meat
    35        did you see?
    36        A.  Well, the large part of the bins I saw were
    37        diaphragm -- sorry, flank.  I noted that I saw some
    38        diaphragm.  I have seen the subsequent record that disputes
    39        this.  All I can say is I know what I saw.
    40
    41   Q.   Do you have any experience in distinguishing between
    42        different cuts of meat and different types of meat?
    43        A.  Well, through my training as an Environmental Health
    44        Officer one is examined on these matters after six months
    45        practical experience, and very rigorously examined.  Then
    46        I spent 20 years as a food inspector.  I suggest I would
    47        know the primal cuts, I would know the primal muscles,
    48        I would know what I was seeing.  That is all I can say,
    49        that with 20 years I know what I am talking about.  I know
    50        what I saw. 
    51 
    52   Q.   Are you capable of judging the age of the beef from looking 
    53        at the ----
    54        A.  No, you cannot.  You can do it chemically.  There are
    55        certain tests you can, but really you need the head and the
    56        teeth to make a good judgment.
    57
    58   Q.   Can you just explain in terms of what is there what you
    59        saw?
    60        A.  Well, I say I judged it to be old cow meat largely

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