Day 067 - 15 Dec 94 - Page 47


     
     1
     2   Q.   Yes.  Would you accept that?
     3        A.  Yes, I would accept that.
     4
     5   Q.   So you have read Dr. Gregory's evidence about Sun Valley?
     6        A.  Yes, I did.
     7
     8   Q.   And the other suppliers.  Would you say that British
     9        conditions are better than most countries and other
    10        countries are, you know, beginning to improve their
    11        conditions?
    12        A.  Are you speaking about Sun Valley and the chicken
    13        operation?
    14
    15   Q.   I am talking in general about conditions.  Obviously, we
    16        have got evidence that we do not have to go into detail
    17        because your company had a witness, Mr. Gregory, who has
    18        given the details about the conditions.  What I am saying
    19        is are the conditions in Britain considered to be better
    20        than most other countries of McDonald's suppliers in most
    21        other countries?
    22        A.  The conditions in relation to how well the animals are
    23        being treated?
    24
    25   Q.   Yes, just on animal welfare.
    26        A.  Or how healthy are the animals?
    27
    28   Q.   Yes.
    29        A.  I would say, and it has been my experience from
    30        visiting the chicken houses and slaughterhouses for
    31        chickens around the world, that you could find many plants
    32        that are very similar, that will be very similar to Sun
    33        Valley's for a number of reasons.  The poultry industry
    34        around the world shares a lot of the information and they
    35        are the leading nature of all kinds of technology.  There
    36        are some areas which are better, yes, but you would expect
    37        that kind of variation around the world.  There are no
    38        plants that are alike around the world.  It is inherent in
    39        the process that nobody can duplicate the same conditions
    40        in every country under every environment.
    41
    42   Q.   I am just trying to see whether the operations in this
    43        country are considered, in terms of animal welfare, a model
    44        for others to catch up with and as a guideline to what to
    45        achieve?
    46        A.  Yes, there are some good things they are doing.  They
    47        spend some resources in terms of research testing to move
    48        forward.  So, yes, there are some things they do better
    49        than some suppliers.
    50 
    51   Q.   So in this country, if people were concerned about animal 
    52        welfare considerations from other countries, whether it is 
    53        Russia or South America or wherever, would Britain be a
    54        place to come, you said suppliers are invited to check out
    55        other model suppliers to see the kinds of conditions which
    56        the company likes to encourage, would Britain be a
    57        particularly useful country for animal welfare?
    58        A.  Yes, Britain could be considered as a world class as
    59        well as other countries, just like Australia or the US.
    60        There are a number of countries that would be models, as

Prev Next Index