Day 105 - 16 Mar 95 - Page 58
1 having from this witness before he goes.
2
3 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Right. What time do you have to get away
4 this evening, Mr. Morris?
5
6 MR. MORRIS: Thursdays, I am all right.
7
8 MR. JUSTICE BELL: We will rise until quarter to four.
9
10 MR. MORRIS: Can the witness be reminded he must not talk to the
11 Plaintiffs or representatives of the Plaintiffs?
12
13 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. Do not talk to anyone about the case at
14 all, Mr. Bennett. We will resume at quarter to 4.
15
16 (Short Adjournment)
17
18 MS. STEEL: There was one thing I wanted to clarify: The TVC is
19 the only test that people do use to check for food safety,
20 is it not, in the meat industry?
21 A. Not entirely. It is common practice to check the
22 overall condition of the meat and all the circumstances
23 I mentioned just previously. I am not going through them
24 again, but there is a wide range of indicators which are
25 fed by the TVC, that is, Total Viable Count of bacteria.
26 There are companies in very specialised fields who choose
27 to carry out other checks, check for Salmonella, check for
28 E.coli.
29
30 Some companies on receipt, if they buy meat, even wholesale
31 meat companies, will check it themselves for, in fact,
32 Salmonella. It is not a common practice, but it does
33 happen. It is very difficult to make an all-embracing
34 statement on that subject. I said, generally speaking, it
35 is not the common practice to do more than check for the
36 TVC. In fact, it is common practice not even to do that
37 because the need is not felt.
38
39 Q. Perhaps I should have been a bit more specific: Apart from
40 specific tests for Salmonella and E.coli, the only widely
41 used test for food safety is the TVC?
42 A. As you know, I do not accept that it is particularly
43 significant in terms of food safety. It is a widely used
44 check. It tells you all sorts of things. In my view, it
45 tells you nothing about food safety. People are entitled
46 to think that if the meat is generally of low bacterial
47 count it might well be safer. I do not happen to hold that
48 view.
49
50 Q. But that is the method used by the industry?
51 A. Yes, for the general bacterial check. I would not like
52 you to get me to agree that it was purely and simply a food
53 safety check.
54
55 MR. JUSTICE BELL: But you say, in your view, the TVC or TCC
56 tells you nothing about food safety. What Ms. Steel is
57 putting to you is, nevertheless, a large number of people
58 in the food industry are using it as an indicator of food
59 safety.
60 A. I can accept that they do that, but I must come back to
