Day 107 - 24 Mar 95 - Page 10
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2 MR. JUSTICE BELL: In, fact you have asked a very large number
3 but no-one has taken any objection to it, so do not worry
4 about it. The most obvious example was the question you
5 asked about the 1990 Act, but no-one took any objection.
6
7 MR. MORRIS: Mr. Rampton does exactly the same thing.
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9 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do not worry. We can do without the
10 arguments. I would rather you put it in this general way,
11 because, do not forget, your witness here is the food
12 safety witness.
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14 MR. MORRIS: Yes.
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16 MR. JUSTICE BELL: So: Do you see any ramifications for food
17 safety in what you see in those two paragraphs or not?
18 That is a leading question as well, but there we are.
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20 MR. MORRIS (To the witness): Mr. North, do you see any
21 ramifications or concerns regarding food safety with what
22 it says in those paragraphs?
23 A. Yes. I speak with knowledge of the Preston Community
24 Centre Report and the two linked says that, yes, if you
25 push the procedures, then food safety will suffer.
26
27 Q. In what way?
28 A. Well, clearly, the critical control in food safety
29 terms is that cooking of the product. The time to which
30 product is exposed to heat is critical and, therefore, if
31 you are pushing time, i.e. the hustle, and that is
32 foreshortened, then that has implications in food safety.
33
34 Q. McDonald's have admitted a number of incidents of the
35 under-cooking -- I mean, for example, only yesterday
36 I believe it was, an admission about the under-cooking of
37 chicken McNuggets which contained salmonella which were
38 then tested by local health officials and declared unfit
39 for human consumption. That was in Shrewsbury in or before
40 November 1994. "McDonald's stated that procedures for
41 cooking chicken were being reviewed in part due to staff
42 confusion over the use of the mechanical timing devices for
43 the cooking of such products".
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45 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, Mr. Morris had better get it right; I
46 think it is not fair on the witness otherwise. The
47 admission actually is that the under-cooked -- sorry, my
48 Lord.
49
50 MR. MORRIS: And on 6th August 1990 McDonald's pleaded guilty to
51 an offence for selling raw chicken sandwich in Sutton. The
52 meat in the sandwich was found to be pink and
53 transluscent. In Kingston, April 1991, fined for serving
54 an under-cooked McChicken Sandwich. Those incidents, as
55 admitted, what is your response -----
56
57 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just ask him what, if any, conclusion he
58 feels able to draw from them.
59
60 MR. MORRIS: Are you surprised? What conclusions can you draw?
