Day 105 - 16 Mar 95 - Page 12
1
2 MR. MORRIS: So when you introduced HACCP, did you introduce
3 speed of line restrictions and in volume per day of
4 throughput?
5 A. No, because on the slaughter line the hazards which
6 might arise, that is, the temperature, or contamination, or
7 loss of weight, or any of the other hazards that might
8 arise, are absolute to the extent that if the critical
9 control point is not controlled correctly, there will be a
10 hazard. So, to that extent, the speed of the line is not
11 of any great consequence.
12
13 Q. But the speed of the line affects every aspect of the
14 operation, does it not -----
15
16 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think you are pushing at an open door
17 there; he has really agreed with you. If your control
18 points show a red light, as it were, you look to see why,
19 and it may turn out because you are trying to do things too
20 quickly?
21 A. Exactly so.
22
23 Q. But if you go back to the speed, you are getting further
24 away from the actual crucial test which is the HACCP?
25 A. Yes. The speed of the line, if I might just explain,
26 shortly, one further point, would be extremely difficult to
27 set because the product differs, the type of animal, the
28 state of the animal. Some animals are not very clean when
29 they come in; some animals need more attention. Therefore,
30 depending on the circumstances, the line speed sets itself
31 according to the hazards present.
32
33 MR. MORRIS: The E.coli tests that the Bristol Food Laboratories
34 do, we have monthly or one a month sheets here. Is that
35 how often they do the tests, once a month, to have an
36 educational picture of whether it is present in the meat?
37 A. Yes.
38
39 Q. If they found E.coli being present, that would be an
40 educational warning -- once a month they do a test for
41 E.coli?
42 A. Yes.
43
44 Q. If they find it, what does that tell them?
45 A. It tells them that in the sample they took that E.coli
46 was present.
47
48 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It tells them they had better start looking
49 for how that came to be, does it not?
50 A. Yes, but even before that, it tells them that extremely
51 rapid and urgent steps have to be taken to inform the
52 customer of what has happened and trace the meat. That is
53 the first ----
54
55 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, I do believe Mr. Morris' question should
56 have been put in a more remote tense; there was no evidence
57 that they ever had found it.
58
59 MR. JUSTICE BELL: He did say: "If they find it".
60
