Day 067 - 15 Dec 94 - Page 24
1 that we ourselves, our Quality Assurance Department, will
2 visit some of the suppliers, not all of the suppliers.
3
4 Q. When you say "suppliers" are you talking about
5 slaughterhouses?
6 A. Slaughterhouses, that is correct.
7
8 Q. What percentage of the slaughterhouses do you, the
9 McDonald's Corporation, visit yourselves?
10 A. I am not sure. I can provide you with that information
11 if needed.
12
13 Q. Are we talking about 10 per cent or 90 per cent?
14 A. We are probably talking closer to 10 per cent.
15
16 Q. Right?
17 A. We are definitely not 90 per cent. There are too many
18 suppliers. We do what we call a representative sample.
19 So, we would visit suppliers in the different producing
20 areas of the United States that would represent that zone.
21 Our main intent for that visit is so that we feel
22 confidence that our suppliers and ourselves will come up
23 with the same result, and that we do understand the
24 significance of the way in which the audit is structured so
25 that we do it consistently.
26
27 Q. They get these forms, your suppliers get the forms, that
28 you have produced and they fill them out, do they?
29 A. Yes, they do.
30
31 Q. Right. Then do they return them to you?
32 A. That is up to them. If they decide there is an issue
33 that they need to pursue, they will contact our Quality
34 Assurance Department; it could be myself, there is another
35 person that works that is directly accountable for meat
36 products in the US, so he would get involved if the
37 supplier feels there is an issue that we need to get
38 involved in.
39
40 Q. But you do not regularly check the audit forms yourself as
41 a company?
42 A. What do you mean by "checking" -- conducting audits?
43
44 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No. You have evolved a form which your
45 suppliers use when looking at the abattoirs which supply
46 them?
47 A. That is correct.
48
49 Q. Ms. Steel is trying to ascertain whether you actually see
50 the form. You have indicated, if there was anything worth
51 talking about you would expect the supplier to get in touch
52 with your Quality Assurance Department. But you are being
53 asked do you, as a matter of routine, look at the forms
54 themselves?
55 A. Thank you for clarifying. Yes, I do see some of them.
56 I do not see all of them. That is because we have
57 developed throughout the years a very strongly and mutually
58 dependent relationship with our suppliers.
59
60 MS. STEEL: Do the suppliers check all of the slaughterhouses?
