Day 067 - 15 Dec 94 - Page 20


     
     1        resources for the people and economic resources to find the
     2        best practices simply because we care and that is the right
     3        thing to do.
     4
     5   Q.   Something that might come under "better practices" might
     6        include the development of, say, Mr. McDonald, the chicken
     7        that improved the efficiency of nugget making processes?
     8        A.  That could include that, yes.
     9
    10   Q.   Did McDonald's have an input into that?
    11        A.  Did McDonald's, in what sense?
    12
    13   Q.   Funding or anything like that, any involvement?
    14        A.  Well, Tyson by itself developed the breed to fill our
    15        needs.  That is why that breed was developed.
    16
    17   Q.   So that was something you asked them to do; that was
    18        something McDonald's asked them to do?
    19        A.  No, they came to us and said:  "We have been working
    20        for many years", and they are not the only ones.  There has
    21        been throughout the world -- in, obviously, the US there
    22        has been a constant effort to improve chickens.
    23
    24   Q.   Improve the efficiency of your operation?
    25        A.  To improve everything from the composition of the bird,
    26        the health of the bird, their resistance to diseases and,
    27        obviously, their ability to grow faster and improve their
    28        efficiencies, that is correct.
    29
    30   Q.   Does it actually have any benefit for the chicken to grow
    31        to twice the size or almost twice the size it would
    32        normally be?
    33        A.  I do not know where you are getting your figures, but
    34        "twice their size" would not be an accurate statement.
    35
    36   Q.   Almost twice the weight?
    37        A.  Compared to what?
    38
    39   Q.   To a normal broiler?
    40        A.  What is a normal broiler?
    41
    42   Q.   If you want to know, the figures are from John Love's book
    43        "Behind the Arches" which, as I understand it, is approved
    44        by McDonald's.
    45        A.  There has been -----
    46
    47   Q.   The phrase in the book -- if anyone wants to check, it is
    48        page 344 -- says:  "Tyson developed an entirely new breed
    49        of chicken it called Mr. McDonald".
    50 
    51   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  No, I am sorry, when you go underground we 
    52        cannot hear at all. 
    53
    54   MS. STEEL:  "Tyson developed an entirely knew breed of chicken
    55        it called Mr. McDonald which was specifically designed to
    56        increase the efficiency of the nugget making process.
    57        Nearly twice as large as the standard supermarket broiler,
    58        Tyson's new chicken further reduced the deboning problem by
    59        increasing the meat yield from each cut".  Do you agree
    60        with that?

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