Day 067 - 15 Dec 94 - Page 26
1
2 Q. -- better trace where it was coming from?
3 A. That was one part, that is correct. There are also
4 number of other issues that we have or practice that we
5 took into consideration to reduce the number of suppliers.
6
7 Q. No, what I am asking is whether that is something has just
8 taken place in the last few years or whether that has been
9 an ongoing process for five or 10 years?
10 A. We have, if you look back at the last five years, we
11 have made an attempt to reduce the number of suppliers
12 throughout the year, and because there is a significant
13 variation in the supply of beef, you cannot make
14 assumptions that every year we have reduced the number of
15 suppliers because in some years we have to use some other
16 suppliers, some additional suppliers.
17
18 Q. But, say, five or six years ago would you have been using
19 more than 74 suppliers?
20 A. I do not know.
21
22 Q. You do not know?
23 A. No. It could be, it could be not; it depends in that
24 particular year what was the supply of beef in that year.
25 Did we have a drought? Was it an over supply of beef? I
26 do not know. Our efforts have been continued to try to
27 reduce the number of suppliers, yes.
28
29 Q. You said that has been taking place over the last five
30 years.
31 A. I said that in the last year. I know this year we have
32 reduced the number of suppliers because this year there is
33 an over supply of beef. Taking that into consideration, we
34 can reduce the number of suppliers because they will supply
35 us with more beef.
36
37 Q. The forms that you we looked at yesterday from all around
38 the world, is that the audit form that you use?
39 A. For what?
40
41 Q. For monitoring slaughterhouses?
42 A. We used a number of the things. A paper would not give
43 you an indication of the conditions in which the animals
44 are treated. We understand that, and we have taken the
45 approach that is more valuable for our people to be present
46 in these different locations and throughout the supply
47 chain, and when I said "our people", it is McDonald's
48 people ---
49
50 Q. Making visits?
51 A. -- and it is the suppliers who will be looking with
52 their own eyes at the treatment of animals, and how they
53 are being raised and how they are being treated.
54
55 MR. JUSTICE BELL: But accepting that for the moment, the sheets
56 we looked at yesterday all have "meat slaughter practices"
57 across the top?
58 A. That is correct.
59
60 Q. What you are asked, although it was used for a different
