Day 295 - 06 Nov 96 - Page 14


     
     1   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Just let me make a note.  (Pause).
     2
     3   MR. MORRIS:   The actual-----
     4
     5   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Pause a moment.
     6
     7   MR. MORRIS:   Sorry (Pause).
     8
     9   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   You see, I understand that what Ms. Steel
    10        has said, that there is quite a lot of potential for the
    11        spread of E.Coli.  What I do not understand is that it is
    12        guaranteed that it would be spread.  That I have difficulty
    13        with.  It does not help to overstate your case
    14        necessarily.  I mean, if that was so, whatever the
    15        difficulties are with tracing infections back to particular
    16        food, and so on, it really means people would be falling
    17        ill in their millions after going to McDonald's.
    18
    19   MR. MORRIS:   Two things.  First of all, the 6,950 head of
    20        cattle per week is the equivalent of the total volume of
    21        meat that McKeys takes.  Day 80, page 32.  Therefore, the
    22        actual number of head of cattle per week would be 10 times
    23        as great in terms of McDonald's only taking 10 percent of
    24        the available meat.
    25
    26   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Let me get this -- (Pause).
    27
    28   MR. MORRIS:   So, in any event, the figures given by the expert
    29        committee that reported to the government about E.Coli,
    30        which I have not got reported in front of me, gives the
    31        most accurate and extensive in-depth analysis of the E.Coli
    32        problem, which they are taking very seriously.  I think
    33        they had much greater figures in terms of the prevalence of
    34        E.Coli 0157H in the herds.  Dr. North stated that he was
    35        prepared to accept their monitoring and their opinion.
    36
    37        So what I am saying is until 1991 the gut was not sealed
    38        off during slaughter, and we have heard about how it was a
    39        regular occurrence for gut to contaminate the carcass.  Of
    40        course, it would often be washed and sprayed, which would
    41        guarantee to spread the contamination around the slaughter
    42        house, and McDonald's brought in a particular specification
    43        that the gut should no longer be damaged but should be
    44        sealed off during slaughter.
    45
    46   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Was that related to E.Coli 0157H?
    47
    48   MR. MORRIS:   Oh God, yes, definitely.  It was after the Preston
    49        incident.  So we have the situation where there is a
    50        substantial percentage -- I can't remember now from that
    51        E.Coli official report -- that the contamination is
    52        guaranteed to be spread in the slaughter house, that
    53        because of the nature of the product...  Sorry, that the
    54        octabin procedure that McDonald's rely on is guaranteed to
    55        spread the contamination amongst carcasses, and the
    56        batching in the chillers, as Marja Hovi explains, spreads
    57        contaminations.
    58
    59        Further, when they produced their burgers at McKeys, which
    60        they choose to do and don't have to produce burger products

Prev Next Index