Day 079 - 27 Jan 95 - Page 39


     
     1        you will you not keep it and use it for patties?
     2        A.  That is what I just said, sir.
     3
     4   Q.   That is what you are being asked.
     5        A.  Yes, but what I just said, sir, was if it is
     6        unsatisfactory that is just -- what is the term -- a
     7        qualifying thing.
     8
     9   Q.   We understand that, but what happens to it?
    10        A.  It is used.  By then it has been manufactured.
    11
    12   MS. STEEL:  Right.
    13        A.  But it is not satisfactory -- it is unsatisfactory so
    14        if you do it again you are in trouble.
    15
    16   Q.   But it goes through to the stores?
    17        A.  Yes.
    18
    19   Q.   You say that the customer's defence against food poisoning
    20        is that the burger will be cooked properly?
    21        A.  Yes, I did say that but I said that in the context of
    22        E.coli.
    23
    24   Q.   Right.
    25        A.  Of course, it would apply to this as well but, I mean,
    26        if I can -- "unsatisfactory" does not mean that the meat,
    27        if it has a count that high, that the meat is bad.  It is
    28        just unsatisfactory by McDonald's standards.  I know that
    29        is probably hard to understand but it is a fact.
    30
    31   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It would help me to understand, suppose you
    32        actually do get some meat which is "bad"; how do you
    33        discover that in the first place?
    34        A.  In the first place, sir, if it was that bad, it would
    35        have an odour, a feel, a look, which would be apparent, and
    36        once you had got way over, shall we say, 50 million,
    37        I mean, you would just put that -- the quality control
    38        department would just put it on hold and make sure it went
    39        nowhere.  It would have a big white sticker on it "Do not
    40        use, quality control" until the result was obtained.
    41
    42   Q.   So after "satisfactory", "passable" and "unsatisfactory"
    43        there is a watershed somewhere?
    44        A.  There is, sir.
    45
    46   Q.   Beneath which it will not be used for human consumption at
    47        all?
    48        A.  Absolutely, absolutely.
    49
    50   MS. STEEL:  That watershed if it is visibly or smell-ably "off"? 
    51        A.  Yes, yes.  It is a matter of judgment, a matter of 
    52        technical know-how and judgment. 
    53
    54   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  But does it depend upon it being so many
    55        million?  I mean, you gave a very large number indeed.
    56        Which is the test?  Is it visual and touch or is it the
    57        really awful bacteriological analysis or does it vary?
    58        A.  It really is visual and touch, my Lord.  I must say,
    59        I have never had experience of any meat that bad in McKey,
    60        if I can say that.

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