Day 285 - 23 Oct 96 - Page 32


     
     1        including relevant evidence as I am going through the
     2        review partly because that is just the way I have
     3        organised my papers, or not organised them.
     4
     5        Alberto Amador Zamora, President of the Union of the
     6        Chamber of Beef Cattle Producers of Costa Rica, was also
     7        interviewed by Peter Heller for that film.  I do not know
     8        if it was ever actually included in the film in the end
     9        but we have a transcript of it verified by the film
    10        director, and a signed statement of Mr. Amador, signed
    11        31st August 1984, verifying to giving his personal opinion
    12        and participating in the film.
    13
    14        This is from memory now, because I have not had time to
    15        check the Wolf transcripts, but Mr. Wolf told him --
    16        Mr. Wolf told the court, I believe -- and I may remember
    17        this wrong -- that Mr. Amador had told him that he had not
    18        spoken to Peter Heller, which I am afraid is completely
    19        incorrect.  This is the kind of -- the point is, so far as
    20        we know, Mr. Amador is a supplier to McDonald's, he is in
    21        a position of great responsibility and experience in the
    22        beef industry and cattle ranching industry in Costa Rica.
    23        But it seems that McDonald's witnesses have been prepared
    24        to put over a line in court to try and damage the defence
    25        in this case, and a lot of it is not true and they know it
    26        is not true or hearsay or contradictory or unreliable in
    27        other ways.
    28
    29        So all I am saying is that I don't know whether Mr. Amador
    30        said that to Mr. Wolf.  That is what he says that
    31        Mr. Amador said.  But the point is that we have evidence
    32        to the contrary showing that Mr. Wolf should not be
    33        relying on hearsay in court.
    34
    35        Then we come on to the US labelling system.
    36
    37   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    38
    39   MR. MORRIS:   Dr. Gonzalez said on day 69, page 47, line 7:
    40        "It was the responsibility of the Food Safety and
    41        Inspection Service that we use hundred percent domestic
    42        beef".  We did not have any evidence that there was any
    43        particular monitoring of that by the FSIS whatever.  In
    44        fact, McDonald's stated that they have never allowed any
    45        independent inspection of the supply chain for their beef
    46        in the USA.  I think, I can't remember, I think that was
    47        Mr. Cesca, to be honest.  I am sorry, I have not got the
    48        reference for that.  I might have it buried somewhere.
    49        Just the kind of thing you would expect McDonald's to want
    50        to have if they wanted to reassure themselves and everyone
    51        else that what they are saying publicly is in fact true.
    52 
    53        And I will not go into the argument over domestic product
    54        and US beef at any length.  Dr. Gonzalez on day 69, page
    55        45, line 34, says as far as he was concerned US beef means
    56        it is a hundred percent domestic, and he did not recognise
    57        the discrepancy that even their suppliers had recognised
    58        in that letter which we did look at in some detail in the
    59        evidence.  I can't remember now who we looked at it with.
    60        But it is not -- I am sure everybody remembers it anyway.

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