Day 101 - 10 Mar 95 - Page 65


     
     1        buy in meat that has already been deboned for process, for
     2        further processing for other markets.
     3
     4   Q.   As far as you are aware, they do not have farms elsewhere
     5        in Europe then?
     6        A.  I do not believe they have their own farms anywhere
     7        else in Europe.
     8
     9   MR. MORRIS:  Just one clarification point:  In your statement
    10        you said -- I do not know if this came up before -- that in
    11        1989 the maximum permissible level of TVC, microbiological
    12        TVC, was 5,000,000, and since then it has been raised to
    13        10,000,000 for products supplied to McDonald's; is that
    14        correct?
    15        A.  No, that is not correct.  What specific?
    16
    17   Q.   It is paragraph 21 in your statement.
    18
    19   MR. RAMPTON:  Volume yellow VII.
    20
    21   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Your first statement is tab 1, divider 1, and
    22        paragraph 21 Mr. Morris would like you to look at.
    23
    24   THE WITNESS:  What that actually says -- this is referring to
    25        the Sun Valley internal specs. -- in 1989 they were working
    26        to 5,000,000 total count.  Now they work to 1,000,000.
    27
    28   MR. MORRIS:  What is that for?  For products, finished products?
    29        A.  No, that is for -- essentially, that is for the raw
    30        meat.  McDonald's make their own specifications for the
    31        finished product.
    32
    33   Q.   It says in 21 "which we require from products which are
    34        supplied to us"?
    35        A.  Yes, at the appendix there are details of the
    36        specifications there.  The Sun Valley actually work to a
    37        slightly tighter specification than we insist on, but they
    38        have put that on themselves, if you like.
    39
    40   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If you look at appendix F, divider F, both
    41        the TVCs, wherever they appear, are 1,000,000?
    42        A.  Yes.
    43
    44   Q.   Whether they are raw or finished McNuggets and finished
    45        McChicken?
    46        A.  Yes.
    47
    48   Q.   What you say in paragraph 21 is:  "These differ from those
    49        which were used in 1989 only in the sense that the maximum
    50        permissible level of TVC was 5,000,000 at that time".  Are 
    51        you saying now that that sentence was meant to refer to the 
    52        raw meat but not the finished product? 
    53        A.  Yes, the McDonald's spec. has always been and still is
    54        5,000,000 on our finished product, and that is what Sun
    55        Valley used to work to on the finished product.  Now, they
    56        know that they can control that even further and so they
    57        work to 1,000,000.  I agree, the paragraph 21 is a bit
    58        confusing.
    59
    60   MR. MORRIS:  There are a lot of grey area in this whole area.

Prev Next Index