Day 079 - 27 Jan 95 - Page 30


     
     1
     2   Q.   Their own quality control checks, though, are not those
     3        microbiological checks that McKey do?
     4        A.  No, they have their own checks.
     5
     6   Q.   Do they have to do the same checks that you do, though?  Do
     7        you have any specifications?
     8        A.  Not necessarily.  The manager of an abattoir may have
     9        his own series of checks and his own quality control
    10        methods.  They will be very similar because of usage and
    11        common knowledge in the industry, but there will be slight
    12        variation.
    13
    14   Q.   Do you have any specifications for what kind of checks they
    15        should be doing?
    16        A.  No.  As long as they meet our specifications, that is
    17        all that concerns me.
    18
    19   Q.   But in your specifications, if I am right, it does not
    20        specify what kind of checks they should do ---
    21        A.  For -----
    22
    23   Q.   -- of a microbiological nature, does it?
    24        A.  No.  For an abattoir and boning room to be a supplier
    25        to McKey, it is not something which is accepted and done
    26        overnight.  For a supplier to become a regular supplier,
    27        that fellow has to go through meetings with the buying
    28        department, meetings with the technical department,
    29        inspections of his abattoir and inspections of his boning
    30        room.  You can walk into an abattoir or a premises and,
    31        with professional experience, you can soon sum up whether
    32        he is of the standard acceptable to McKey.
    33
    34   Q.   But the point of the specifications is to make sure they
    35        do  -----
    36        A.  I thought we had said that.
    37
    38   Q.   Yes, but what I am saying is that there are no tests,
    39        particular tests, which you demand of the supplier; it is
    40        up to them.  Do you see what I am saying?  There is no
    41        specification on what test the supplier -----
    42        A.  No.  What I think you are asking me now is, do I write
    43        the quality control procedure for the 74 abattoirs and
    44        boning rooms which supply McKey -- no, I do not.
    45
    46   Q.   But you write the specifications, scores of them in other
    47        matters, but in terms of the tests, microbiological tests,
    48        it is entirely up to them?
    49        A.  I do not write scores of them.  I write one on the meat
    50        buying specification, the raw material specification. 
    51 
    52   Q.   Yes, but it has scores of paragraphs in it. 
    53
    54   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes, but, to be fair, some of them are just
    55        what the cuts of meat should consist of.
    56
    57   MR. MORRIS:  Yes.  "... Each abattoir has its own veterinary
    58        surgeons, laboratories and Environmental Health Officers"?
    59        A.  If it is EEC approved, yes.
    60

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