Day 077 - 25 Jan 95 - Page 50
1 it is engraved on your heart -- says: "Young fed animals
2 are cattle that exhibit carcass maturity and quality that
3 will give the patties a mild beef flavour". Are you
4 allowed to use anything other than young fed animals ---
5 A. No.
6
7 Q. -- for McDonald's food?
8 A. No.
9
10 Q. What is a young fed animal?
11 A. In the steer and the heifer, it is about two years old;
12 in a shop cow it can be up to three years old; in a SYB, a
13 special young bull, it can be up to two years old.
14
15 Q. What is a special young bull?
16 A. It is an entire bull that has not been castrated.
17
18 Q. Does there come a time when an entire bull becomes
19 unacceptable for use as a McDonald's meat source?
20 A. Very much so after two, two and a half years of age.
21
22 Q. What is the reason?
23 A. It becomes staggy and strong.
24
25 Q. In taste?
26 A. In flavour and taste.
27
28 Q. In flavour. Taking this alone for the moment, we will come
29 to the other parts of paragraph 9 in a moment, what
30 possibility is there then that Mr. North saw what he says
31 he saw, namely, old cow meat?
32 A. Well, you see, he says, and I quote: "I judge that
33 much of the meat observed (I saw what must have been
34 several tonnes) had been derived from old cows. I noted
35 flank and diaphragm (skirt) to be the bulk of the meat".
36
37 Q. Tell us what is wrong with that?
38 A. Well, he did not see any old cows, and all the flanks
39 he saw were not cow flanks, they were steer and heifer
40 flanks. We never buy cow flanks. Furthermore, skirts are
41 trimmed out at the time of dressing in the abattoirs, and
42 skirts are not allowed in the McDonald's spec.. He was
43 looking at steer and heifer flanks, not cow flanks, and he
44 did not see any skirts.
45
46 Q. Is there anything in what he could have seen that he might
47 have mistaken for a diaphragm or skirt?
48 A. Well, not if he knew his meat, no, there is not. If he
49 knew his meat, he would not make the mistake.
50
51 Q. Is your observation about this paragraph is that he does
52 not know his meat?
53 A. Yes.
54
55 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Could I just ask, you supply people other
56 than McDonald's?
57 A. Yes, sir.
58
59 Q. Do you supply any beef from old cows or any skirt to other
60 customers of yours?
