Day 129 - 25 May 95 - Page 13


     
     1   Q.   Did the investigations, or do you know whether Mr. -- was
     2        it Mark Hathaway?
     3        A.  Yes.
     4
     5   Q.   Did he say about whether the Chicken McNuggets were quite
     6        obviously uncooked, from looking at them?
     7        A.  What you are saying, could it have been spotted by the
     8        crew member when they took the Nuggetts out, they looked
     9        under-cooked?
    10
    11   Q.   Yes.
    12        A.  Obviously, they did not spot it or they would not have
    13        served it, but quite quickly into the cooking process they
    14        did take on the appearance of being golden coloured, which
    15        is the cooked colour.  I know Quality Assurance have done
    16        some work with Sun Valley to see if there is available a
    17        batter that would be very light to start with and then
    18        change colour through the cooking process, so it was very
    19        easy to see it had not gone through its full-time, but the
    20        feedback  is that is not possible to do, so it is something
    21        we have investigated.
    22
    23   Q.   So it was quite lucky the customer spotted they were not
    24        cooked?
    25        A.  I said the little girl did not eat them, I take it,
    26        because of the taste of them, so, yes.
    27
    28   Q.   So the customer tried them?
    29        A.  I really do not know.  I know the feedback at the time
    30        was the little girl did not eat them.
    31
    32   Q.   Do you know what time of the day this incident took place?
    33        A.  I believe it was in late afternoon, but that is -- my
    34        memory might not be exact on that.
    35
    36   Q.   The crew would be more likely to notice something like that
    37        if they were working slower, would they not, and they had
    38        the time to check things more thoroughly?
    39        A.  Well, you can only speculate on that.  I do not know.
    40
    41   Q.   It is logical, is it not, that if they have time to check
    42        something thoroughly, they are more likely to spot if there
    43        is something wrong with it?
    44        A.  If it is difficult to tell at what stage of the cooking
    45        process the product is because of the difficulty with the
    46        batter,.  It does not matter how much time they have got,
    47        they are still not going to be able to tell.  You cannot
    48        tell by looking at the outside of a chicken McNugget
    49        whether it is cooked properly or not.
    50 
    51   Q.   The Quality Assurance Department that you were in charge of 
    52        for quite a time, that investigates complaints of foreign 
    53        objects; is that right?
    54        A.  It does, yes, although the way that the Department
    55        operates has changed an awful lot since I left it in 1989.
    56
    57   Q.   Are you aware of complaints about cysts being found in
    58        chicken products?
    59        A.  No.
    60

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