Day 112 - 31 Mar 95 - Page 42
1 Q. I know it is a leading question, but the obvious
2 implication is there was cross-contamination from one
3 carcass to the next because of that?
4 A. Yes. Well, that could happen as well, yes.
5
6 Q. You said something like there were between 150 to 300
7 animals per day?
8 A. Well, it depended on the day very much. As I said
9 earlier, it was not the normal routine at Jarretts because
10 we did not have the lambs.
11
12 Q. We are talking about just cattle?
13 A. Yes.
14
15 Q. So when you say 150 to 300 a day, can we safely multiply
16 that by five to get the throughput for one of the weeks you
17 were there, for example?
18 A. Yes. As I said before, the throughput is a very
19 misleading figure in the slaughter industry. The thing
20 that really counts, we could have 150 animals a day and we
21 would have finished by breakfast time. We started
22 slaughtering at 6 because the line speed was so high.
23
24 Q. But in terms of the volume in the chillers and things like
25 that?
26 A. Right, yes.
27
28 Q. Then that would have an effect, the total throughput would
29 have an effect?
30 A. Yes.
31
32 Q. You said 150 to 300 a day. Could we safely say that it was
33 something between 750 and 1500 in a week that would have
34 gone through Jarretts at that time?
35 A. Yes.
36
37 Q. Which is basically multiplying by five?
38 A. Yes.
39
40 MR. MORRIS: Mr. Bennett for McDonald's said that they were
41 processing 400 to 500 cattle a week and that was the
42 maximum capacity a plant could work to. If it is true what
43 he said, would you be concerned in fact that they were
44 taking 750 to 1500?
45 A. Well, there was concern expressed both by me and by
46 Jarretts about the fact that we had to move the carcasses
47 out of the chillers after one night's, after 24 hours
48 chilling. They knew and I knew, I was not suggesting they
49 would turn their chillers at a cooler temperature because
50 that would immediately lead to poor quality, and I am
51 normally just as concerned about the quality as I am
52 concerned about the public health issues, and so our only
53 choice was really to take the carcasses out earlier and
54 hope that the temperatures would be down. But there was no
55 possibility for that because we had to move them on. Both
56 sides recognised the problem during the time I was there,
57 at least there was no dispute about it. It could be, as
58 far as Mr. Bennett is concerned, that he was there at a
59 different time. He perhaps was there during the time when
60 they are mainly slaughtering sheep, which means they will
