Day 089 - 15 Feb 95 - Page 63
1 between the two parties.
2
3 Q. Can you do another journey, please, to the shelves and get
4 ought the pink volume VIII entitled "Food Poisoning"?
5 Please turn to tab 9. What is this document?
6 A. This is the document that describes the microbiological
7 criteria for the sampling of McDonald's product; in other
8 words, the maximum levels above which product is not
9 allowed to be supplied to the customer.
10
11 Q. Coliforms we know about. Are there any amongst those
12 coliforms which are found in chicken which are known to be
13 a hazard to human health?
14 A. No, there are not.
15
16 Q. What is pseudomonas?
17 A. Pseudomonas is a food spoilage organism.
18
19 Q. Does that have any implication for human health?
20 A. No, it does not.
21
22 Q. So it is just that the food looks ghastly and it cannot be
23 used?
24 A. Correct.
25
26 Q. Staphylococcus aureus is an organism, we have learned,
27 which can cause illness in humans?
28 A. Yes, it is.
29
30 Q. The TVCs, as we know, are total viable counts?
31 A. That is correct.
32
33 Q. Why is it that this document contains no reference to
34 salmonella?
35 A. Although we carry out testing for salmonella on
36 McDonald's products, we know that it is a raw chicken
37 product, so that we know there is a possibility that
38 salmonella can be found. So our aim is to constantly
39 improve our process to reduce the incidence of salmonella
40 isolation, but it is not specifically written into the
41 specification.
42
43 Q. Have you read Mr. North's report of his visit to Sun
44 Valley?
45 A. Yes, I have.
46
47 Q. You will recall that it says that you told him that,
48 whereas you had managed to reduce the incidence of
49 salmonella to 1 per cent in a live bird, after processing
50 that percentage increased to about 25 per cent. Do you
51 remember saying that?
52 A. Yes, I can remember that.
53
54 Q. Did you say something like that?
55 A. Well, I did not say it in exactly that form.
56
57 Q. No, I said "something like that". What I would like you to
58 do, please, I am not going to prompt you, is to tell us
59 what you did tell him and, if necessary, what it means.
60 Can you do that for us, please?
