Day 111 - 30 Mar 95 - Page 57


     
     1        slaughtering sheep, by cutting the carcasses in half.
     2        These chillers are much slower than normal cattle
     3        chillers.  Also, giving them time and say, all right, let
     4        us monitor the situation, see if we can get the carcass
     5        temperatures to go down.  I would be willing to do this
     6        management decision based on my judgment.
     7
     8   Q.   So you were willing to co-operate?
     9        A.  On that point I was, but then there was another point
    10        of export certification of BSE or export certification of
    11        boning beef which requires the veterinary surgeon to
    12        certify that the animals originate from herds that have
    13        been BSE-free for two years -- at the time the time limit
    14        was for two years.  I was not provided with any kind of
    15        documentation to be able to make the certification.
    16
    17        This was completely against the Royal College of Veterinary
    18        Surgeons' certification guidelines and against the
    19        guidelines and circulars of the Ministry of Agriculture.
    20        I was in a position where I either had to sign false export
    21        certificates or refuse to sign them at all, and this, well,
    22        this was the other reason they gave for my dismissal.
    23
    24        A day later on a Saturday, I contacted the Royal College of
    25        Veterinary Surgeons and they advised me to make a full
    26        statement of the situation.  I felt that it was fair enough
    27        to inform my employers that I was going to take that
    28        action.  Then after that, I received a letter from them
    29        giving other reasons for my dismissal.  I was dismissed on
    30        29th April and then I got the letter about a week later.
    31
    32   Q.   So you are saying that the reasons they give on paper were
    33        not, in fact, the real reasons they had given to you over
    34        the phone?
    35        A.  They were not the reasons that were given to me.
    36        I was, effectively, told on the basis of these reasons not
    37        to enter the premises again on the following Monday.
    38
    39   Q.   We are hoping we will get the letters from Eville & Jones
    40        by tomorrow.
    41
    42   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If you do then you can come back to that.  If
    43        you do not, if you want to raise what happens next, we can
    44        discuss it.
    45
    46   MR. MORRIS: (To the witness):  So, in effect, you refused to
    47        sign the BSE-free herds certificates?
    48        A.  Yes.
    49
    50   Q.   As regards the traceability of animals arriving at 
    51        Jarretts, of where they come from, the herds they come 
    52        from, have you any comments about that? 
    53        A.  Well, the traceability of animals at the abattoirs in
    54        this country in general is very poor, because you have the
    55        practice of cattle markets, rather than most producers
    56        selling their animals directly to the abattoirs which is
    57        the practice, for example, in Scandinavia or, say, in
    58        Africa where I worked before.  So that makes the
    59        traceability very difficult, and that is the main reason
    60        why the beef certification has caused so many problems.

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