Day 079 - 27 Jan 95 - Page 30
1
2 Q. Their own quality control checks, though, are not those
3 microbiological checks that McKey do?
4 A. No, they have their own checks.
5
6 Q. Do they have to do the same checks that you do, though? Do
7 you have any specifications?
8 A. Not necessarily. The manager of an abattoir may have
9 his own series of checks and his own quality control
10 methods. They will be very similar because of usage and
11 common knowledge in the industry, but there will be slight
12 variation.
13
14 Q. Do you have any specifications for what kind of checks they
15 should be doing?
16 A. No. As long as they meet our specifications, that is
17 all that concerns me.
18
19 Q. But in your specifications, if I am right, it does not
20 specify what kind of checks they should do ---
21 A. For -----
22
23 Q. -- of a microbiological nature, does it?
24 A. No. For an abattoir and boning room to be a supplier
25 to McKey, it is not something which is accepted and done
26 overnight. For a supplier to become a regular supplier,
27 that fellow has to go through meetings with the buying
28 department, meetings with the technical department,
29 inspections of his abattoir and inspections of his boning
30 room. You can walk into an abattoir or a premises and,
31 with professional experience, you can soon sum up whether
32 he is of the standard acceptable to McKey.
33
34 Q. But the point of the specifications is to make sure they
35 do -----
36 A. I thought we had said that.
37
38 Q. Yes, but what I am saying is that there are no tests,
39 particular tests, which you demand of the supplier; it is
40 up to them. Do you see what I am saying? There is no
41 specification on what test the supplier -----
42 A. No. What I think you are asking me now is, do I write
43 the quality control procedure for the 74 abattoirs and
44 boning rooms which supply McKey -- no, I do not.
45
46 Q. But you write the specifications, scores of them in other
47 matters, but in terms of the tests, microbiological tests,
48 it is entirely up to them?
49 A. I do not write scores of them. I write one on the meat
50 buying specification, the raw material specification.
51
52 Q. Yes, but it has scores of paragraphs in it.
53
54 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, but, to be fair, some of them are just
55 what the cuts of meat should consist of.
56
57 MR. MORRIS: Yes. "... Each abattoir has its own veterinary
58 surgeons, laboratories and Environmental Health Officers"?
59 A. If it is EEC approved, yes.
60
