Day 037 - 14 Oct 94 - Page 22


     
     1        constructions and so forth.  "Our food is of the highest
     2        quality; our ingredients prove it".  This is good
     3        copyright; I do not think it is particularly honest.  You
     4        do not -- logically speaking, ingredients do not prove
     5        that food is of the highest quality.
     6
     7        This is to me an indication of the way that things are
     8        going to go in this leaflet.  There is no logical
     9        connection between the two parts of that sentence.  "At
    10        McDonald's we believe food should do you good as well as
    11        taste good".  That is very interesting, because if that
    12        truly is the case, then I would expect to see a range of
    13        healthy menu items there effectively promoted and
    14        competitively priced.  This is not what one sees in
    15        McDonald's.  Perhaps at this point I could mention what
    16        one does see at McDonald's and juxtapose that with this
    17        quote?
    18
    19   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Do you want to do that or read the rest of
    20        the paragraph?
    21        A.  The rest of the paragraph is ancillary; it says, "That
    22        is why we have based our menu on good nutritious foods".
    23
    24   MR. MORRIS:  Let us just ask you briefly, because we have had
    25        other people that have gone into this; would you describe
    26        McDonald's menu to be based on good nutritious foods?
    27        A.  The menu is not based on good nutritious foods.  One
    28        has to understand exactly what is being said here.  A menu
    29        is comprised of complete food items and dishes.  I would
    30        like to show you some photographs that I took a couple of
    31        days ago in relation to this.  I think it would be an
    32        interesting juxtapositon.
    33
    34   Q.   Let us come to those a bit later on.  What is your
    35        understanding of what the general opinion is on what is
    36        healthy and what is good nutritious food?
    37        A.  Healthy good nutritious foods will be quite
    38        low-in-fat, specially low in saturated fat; they will be
    39        from fresh products, and they will be predominantly of
    40        non-animal origin; in other words, lots of vegetables,
    41        lots of fruit, particularly with particular reference to
    42        green leafy vegetables.  They are especially
    43        health-promoting.
    44
    45        Virtually all the research that has accumulated over many
    46        decades shows that.  Also I have mentioned yellow and
    47        orange type of fruits and vegetables.  They are
    48        particularly health promoting.  Those are exactly the sort
    49        of foods that are conspicuously not on McDonald's menu
    50        items.  So, here we have the beginning (and I will amplify 
    51        this later) of a credibility gap, the difference between 
    52        the image that is portrayed and the reality of the food 
    53        that is actually sold, and it is actually a huge gap, as
    54        I hope you will see.
    55
    56   Q.   OK.  Let us just specify now the things you have related
    57        in your statement regarding saturates?
    58        A.  Can I refer you to their page No. 5 which starts:
    59        "What nutrients do we need?"
    60

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