Day 066 - 14 Dec 94 - Page 21
1 of thing?
2 A. We have very stringent rules that are required that our
3 restaurants have a pest control programme, that the place
4 -- in fact that is one of our founding principles, that we
5 founded and developed a company based on quality, service,
6 cleanliness and value. Cleanliness is the operative word
7 here. Our restaurants are clean. So, if the restaurants
8 are clean, they will not attract insects and, in spite of
9 that, we have pest controls programmes. So, if something
10 happens, obviously, we will take action.
11
12 Q. Dr. Gonzales, finally this on food safety: It is clear
13 from what you have told us that McDonald's record on food
14 safety is a good one. Do you see any cause for
15 complacency?
16 A. No.
17
18 Q. In relation to food safety.
19 A. No, we do not. Just to give you an idea, a while ago
20 you mentioned there is -- let us make an assumption there
21 is a risk, to give you an idea, the risk or record: We
22 have today, tomorrow, 28 million people, customers, that
23 will visit our restaurants every single day of the year.
24 If you look back at our record and if you make that, if you
25 make the mathematics, that 28 million people a year would
26 be close to around ten billion, US billion. It is a huge
27 number. If you see the people that are or the incidents
28 that have been linked or associated -- they are not,
29 sometimes we have not been a direct link, been associated
30 with a food-borne disease -- it is extremely low. As low
31 as it is, we still take that very seriously because we feel
32 one incident is too many, no matter how many people visit
33 our restaurants. So, we do take it seriously.
34
35 Q. I suppose it is obvious, it would not be very good for
36 business, I suppose, if large numbers of people got ill and
37 perhaps died after eating at McDonald's, would it?
38 A. If I can clarify that we do not do it for business
39 reasons. We do it because it is the right thing to do and
40 because our customers trust us and trust our food and our
41 company. In fact, we spend a lot of money on that
42 programme.
43
44 Q. I should have asked you that. I do not have any figures
45 and I do not have if you have; have you any rough idea how
46 much annually McDonald's spends on its overall food safety
47 policies and their application?
48 A. Oh, a good question -- we do not keep track of a
49 serious issue like that, but it is in the millions. It is
50 definitely millions in the US alone, just in the testing,
51 we calculated roughly around 10 million just to test our
52 product and make sure it does not have the wrong kind of
53 bacteria.
54
55 Q. You said you do not keep track of the cost of that sort of
56 an issue. I am going to ask you: Do you feel any internal
57 pressure at McDonald's to keep the costs of this kind of
58 thing down as far as you can?
59 A. No, we do not. I can recall a conversation or a
60 direction from our Chief Food Safety Officer who said:
