Day 024 - 15 Sep 94 - Page 45
1 not believe, to the sodium in the product.
2
3 MS. STEEL: I am a bit confused now actually. If you read
4 paragraph (1) -----
5
6 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just pause a moment. So what you are saying
7 -- correct me if I am wrong and this is what I think
8 Ms. Steel is asking -- in so far as the second sentence of
9 paragraph (1) suggests that a regular cheeseburger has not
10 had its sodium content lowered in the past year, that is
11 wrong if the sodium content in pickles was lowered because
12 that includes slices of pickle. But you would say that
13 the reduction of sodium in the meal as a whole has been
14 reduced by a negligible amount because the sodium content
15 of the pickle is very small in relation to the total
16 sodium content of the regular cheeseburger; is that right?
17 A. That would be my testimony today, your Lordship,
18 and -----
19
20 Q. It is not what is written but you put that gloss on
21 paragraph (1)?
22 A. You could, and it may have been at the time (and
23 I just cannot recollect that) that we had the data before
24 us to establish the facts as were asserted in this letter,
25 that we had a nutritional analysis provided by McDonald's
26 in the immediate time preceding the April 24 letter, and
27 I know we had their ingredient information that had been
28 given out the year previous.
29
30 If we had only that before us, we would be forced to rely
31 on that information from McDonald's to come up with that
32 conclusion. I do apologise to the court. I could blame
33 jet-lag, but I think the truth is I was looking at the
34 advertisement and not the letter and trying to reconstruct
35 and give the court my testimony today. But I do apologise
36 for the confusion.
37
38 MS. STEEL: In actual fact, I was not actually asking the
39 question in relation to that sentence either, so that
40 makes it even more complicated.
41
42 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, but I want to be clear what Mr. Gardner
43 is saying. You ask your question again.
44
45 MS. STEEL: The question I was asking was in relation to the
46 chart -----
47
48 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That is nutrition information on page 107.
49
50 MS. STEEL: Yes, that is right. In relation to the chart, if
51 you compare the sodium content of those foods with the
52 brochure (and I believe you did that) there are many items
53 in the brochure with a far higher sodium content.
54 So these were examples at the lower end of the scale; is
55 that something -----
56 A. Yes, as a general rule throughout this series of
57 advertisements, McDonald's only told, as it were, the good
58 truth. When they are giving numbers, what they are
59 telling is only the positive numbers that they can give.
60 So they will make an assertion using the numbers to back
