Day 081 - 31 Jan 95 - Page 14


     
     1        last question is becoming far too long anyway.  Can you
     2        pass your eye back to the McKey table in the file and look
     3        by way of comparison at what is said about E.coli there?
     4        It is in the second part of the page, do you see it?
     5        A.  Yes.
     6
     7   Q.   (a), as we see from the next page, is the microbial count
     8        below which the sample is considered to be "satisfactory"?
     9        A.  Yes.
    10
    11   Q.   We see there that the number given, and this is uncooked
    12        meat, raw meat, is 50, do you see that?
    13        A.  Yes.
    14
    15   Q.   The question I was going to ask you is this:  The figure
    16        for "satisfactory" in the cooked meat is less than 20 per
    17        gramme and the uncooked meat, 50 is the top limit; is that
    18        right?  Have I understood that correctly?
    19
    20   MR. MORRIS:  It is not the top limit.
    21
    22   THE WITNESS:  Yes.
    23
    24   MR. RAMPTON:  Anyway, 20 on the one hand, 50 on the other?
    25        A.  Yes.
    26
    27   Q.   Can you answer, please, this question:  Having regard to
    28        the fact that the meat on the McKey sheet which the McKey
    29        sheet refers to is raw meat, does it seem to you that the
    30        figure of 50 is -- I put it this way -- sensible,
    31        over-cautious or reckless?
    32        A.  I think that is sensible, this is raw food.  Cooking
    33        should destroy all of these.
    34
    35   Q.   Generally speaking, looking at the McKey figures, numbers,
    36        in that sheet which apply only to raw meat, do they seem to
    37        you to be sensible, over-cautious or over-generous to the
    38        bacteria and dangerous to humans?
    39        A.  These are sensible levels.
    40
    41   Q.   Finally, Professor Jackson, I would like you to look at one
    42        other document.  This one is, I am afraid, in a different
    43        file.  Retrieve from the shelves yellow volume large IX,
    44        "Rearing and Slaughter".  Turn towards the end to tab 9,
    45        please.  You will find there when you get there a statement
    46        by Mr. David Walker and behind his statement you should
    47        find a plan, a folding plan?
    48        A.  Yes.
    49
    50   Q.   This, I tell you, is not a plan of a place you have 
    51        visited, so far as I know at any rate.  It is a ground plan 
    52        of the slaughtering facility at Jarrets abattoir somewhere 
    53        in the west country.  Just glance over it, please,
    54        Professor Jackson, for a moment and just take a few minutes
    55        to do that.  Then I will ask you some questions, if I may.
    56        A.  Yes.
    57
    58   Q.   From your experience of abattoirs, from your visit to
    59        Midland Meat Packers, is there anything unusual about this
    60        layout?

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