Day 086 - 09 Feb 95 - Page 58
1 A. No. I think he was involved in all of them. I do not
2 know the extreme intimate detail. I just know our food
3 safety procedures normally stand up in court.
4
5 Q. That was what he told you?
6 A. I believe it to be fact.
7
8 Q. So you felt that because he had told you that you had won
9 all the court cases that everything was OK?
10 A. From that I do not assume that everything is OK with
11 McDonald's food safety, that we are complacent and do not
12 have to improve, but what I consider OK about it is that it
13 is good to see when cases are brought against us that our
14 systems are vindicated.
15
16 Q. Are you aware that on 7th May 1993 once McDonald's was
17 fined £1,000 in Southend Magistrates Court for having
18 insanitary premises?
19 A. No, I am not.
20
21 Q. And that this related to the discovery of raw sewage in the
22 food preparation area on 31st December 1992?
23 A. No.
24
25 Q. So he did not tell about that?
26 A. It was not food safety particularly; maybe it was not
27 his area.
28
29 Q. What, raw sewage in the food preparation area is not a
30 matter of food safety?
31 A. Yes, I suppose it is from a general term. I was
32 thinking of the preparation of food and the training in
33 handling of food, it is the food poisoning incidents, the
34 distinction there was that it was not a food poisoning
35 incident; it was obviously a food safety matter.
36
37 Q. Well, an emergency prohibition notice for insanitary
38 premises had been served. If that had not been the case it
39 would have quite easily become a food poisoning incident,
40 could it not?
41 A. It may well have done, yes.
42
43 Q. But you do not know about it?
44 A. No, I do not. I was, as I have said many times,
45 I think it was May 1993 my interest was not in food
46 safety. I was in a different job.
47
48 Q. Is it something that you feel you ought to have known about
49 since you have become responsible for that area?
50 A. Well, I would say yes, because I would be able to give
51 you much clearer answers in court than I am doing so far,
52 but until coming through the doors into here I could not
53 see why I needed to know these things.
54
55 Q. You do not think you need to know about raw sewage in the
56 food preparation area having the position of responsibility
57 that you have?
58 A. If an incident happened now most definitely, yes.
59
60 Q. But does the company not learn by its previous mistakes?
