Day 104 - 15 Mar 95 - Page 37
1 confirmation using UV light and latex testing. 37 degrees
2 Centigrade for 24 hours. Is that an orthodox test?
3 A. Yes, it is.
4
5 Q. Is there a better one available at the moment?
6 A. Not that I am aware.
7
8 Q. Was there in 1994?
9 A. Not that I am aware of.
10
11 Q. "Results: 10329 - E.coli 0157: H7 - not detected". Please
12 turn over to page 3, the same method, same result, that is,
13 10th March 1994. 26th April 1994, that is three days
14 before Ms. Hovi left, the same method, the same result.
15 I can tell you, Mr. Bennett, and for his Lordship's
16 benefit, that eleven pages take us through to page 11, 25th
17 November 1994, with precisely similar results in every
18 single case.
19
20 Then, says Mr. Hovi: "The boning temperature of the meat
21 in the boning hall at Alec Jarrett Ltd were", may be "was",
22 "as a rule well above seven degrees Centigrade". We
23 looked at the temperature of the meat in the boning hall,
24 those were half hourly checks, I think, were they not?
25 A. Yes.
26
27 Q. We looked at them for the time Ms. Hovi was there, did we
28 not?
29 A. We did.
30
31 Q. From your knowledge of Jarrett, do you think it likely that
32 they faked those documents?
33 A. No, I do not. Having set them up and asked for them
34 and paid for them to be set up, there would not appear to
35 be any point. But, I repeat, no, no reason at all to
36 believe they have faked them.
37
38 Q. Then she says at the top of your page 17: "There is no
39 system to identify the ages of the cows in the boning hall
40 to prevent too old cow meat entering the McKey
41 consignments". How does one tell from looking at a piece
42 of meat what the age of its original animal might be?
43 A. The general impression -- visual appearance does give
44 you a guide. Young meat will tend to be lighter in colour
45 with what the butchers would call a decent fat cover, and
46 would be rounded in appearance, without drawing parallels
47 with the human species, and the older beast will be boney,
48 have not much fat and the flesh will be darker. That is,
49 generally speaking, the overall indication of the age of
50 the meat.
51
52 Q. Taking an old dairy cow, for example, what sort of age
53 would you expect to start seeing -- of course, it depends
54 on what the precise life it has, I understand that, what
55 food it has been eating -- generally speaking, relatively
56 little fat and dark meat?
57 A. By the time a working beast has reached eight, nine, 10
58 years old, assuming it has not then been fattened for meat
59 production, it will be showing distinct signs of age in the
60 meat, that is, lack of fat cover and a skinny appearance,
