Day 112 - 31 Mar 95 - Page 38
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2 MR. MORRIS: In the boning hall you said you did not see any one
3 else measuring the carcass temperatures; is that right?
4 A. No, not while I was there.
5
6 Q. What total hours, if you could think back to that time, can
7 you think that you spent in the boning hall over that
8 three-week period?
9 A. I am sure that I never spent a whole half an hour
10 continuous in the boning hall.
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12 Q. Would it have been something like a quarter of an hour a
13 day or three times a day?
14 A. Several times a day, yes.
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16 Q. So several times a day you would have spent something like
17 a quarter of an hour?
18 A. Or five minutes depending on what my particular concern
19 at the time was.
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21 Q. So over a three-week period you may have spent something
22 like, if we just say a minimum, something like 15 minutes?
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24 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do not lead her to it because it may be
25 completely wrong. I am not going to do arithmetic because
26 I do not suppose for a moment now you can be precise, but
27 on a typical day how many flying visits would you make to
28 the boning room?
29 A. Perhaps I could say on average four or five and then
30 some days it was more. I often had to go to the boning
31 hall just to discuss some matter that related to the chill,
32 for example, with the supervisor who usually was in there.
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34 MR. MORRIS: So can you work out yourself then if you spent four
35 or five visits roughly averaging five minutes a time per
36 day ----
37 A. I would not like to do that.
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39 Q. Did you see anyone filling in forms or making notes of
40 carcass temperatures in the boning hall when you were
41 there?
42 A. No.
43
44 Q. The carcass temperature file you kept in the OVS office,
45 can you just explain how that came to be?
46 A. Well, after I discovered there was a problem with the
47 carcass temperatures, that carcasses were coming out of the
48 chiller too warm, I established a file and designed a form
49 where I on a daily basis put in the carcass temperatures.
50 I measured any action that I had taken concerning the
51 carcass temperatures. It is obviously very damning for me
52 as well to have a file in my office where I have recorded
53 carcass temperatures that are well above the acceptable
54 ones. I would always -----
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56 Q. Does it reflect on your responsibilities?
57 A. Well, the OVS is just like the abattoirs; they want to
58 be able to prove due diligence in case their decisions are
59 challenged. So I recorded in that file as well whatever
60 actions and discussions I had had concerning the carcass
