Day 089 - 15 Feb 95 - Page 72
1 Q. The 1 per cent of live birds that are salmonella
2 contaminated, is that an achievement to get it to that sort
3 of figure?
4 A. We are very pleased with the progress that we have
5 made, but obviously we hope to make more progress.
6
7 Q. How have you achieved it?
8 A. Principally by removing salmonella contamination from
9 the feed mill, therefore from the broiler feed, and also by
10 eliminating salmonella from the parent breeding stock.
11
12 Q. Do you hope that you may eliminate it from the live bird
13 entirely in due course?
14 A. That is our objective, to get down to a contamination
15 level on our final meat product of no greater than
16 5 per cent. That is our objective and I believe that we
17 are well on our way to doing that.
18
19 Q. You mentioned management of the feed, trying to produce
20 salmonella-free breeding stock and environmental factors.
21 Of those three which is the most difficult?
22 A. The most difficult is the one we are still left with
23 which is the environmental contamination on growing farms.
24 We will have to work much harder on that.
25
26 Q. Are you continuing to devote resources to that?
27 A. Yes, we are. It is a very important part of our
28 programme.
29
30 Q. This may be the silliest question that you will be asked
31 during your evidence here, Dr. Pattison; on the other hand
32 it may not. Do you have any interest in seeing thousands
33 of your customers going down with salmonella poisoning?
34 A. It is the last thing that I want to happen.
35
36 Q. Finally this, you remember Mr. North's statement, this
37 I think I would like you to look at, so if you would not
38 mind another trek to the shelves and getting out a pale
39 blue file.
40
41 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Before we leave the document, how long do you
42 keep microbiological testing documents for?
43 A. We keep them for approximately three years.
44
45 MR. RAMPTON: It is 1B, I think, my Lord. It is the Defendants'
46 witness statements down at the bottom. It is the pale blue
47 one.
48
49 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Defendants' Witness Statement Volume 1B.
50
51 MR. RAMPTON: You will find the document inside 1B. I think
52 there should be a divider E. I think the only document or
53 documents behind that are a statement or statements by
54 Mr. North. Yes?
55 A. Yes.
56
57 Q. Now there should be two. I would like you to turn to the
58 second one which has on its top report of visits or reports
59 of visits by Richard North dated 12th January 1995 which is
60 the second big document?
