Day 066 - 14 Dec 94 - Page 19


     
     1        around the world.
     2
     3   Q.   Moving from the restaurants to the suppliers, the immediate
     4        and the more distant suppliers, do McDonald's people visit
     5        those suppliers?
     6        A.  Yes, we do.  We have, I could tell you in Europe we
     7        have 34 to 36 Quality Assurance Managers that will visit
     8        the suppliers and make -- basically, they will have the
     9        same role that I have is that to make sure that the
    10        suppliers comply, and we have a verification process so
    11        that they comply with our product specifications, policies
    12        and procedures.
    13
    14   Q.   So to take an example:  The field consultant or the Quality
    15        Assurance person would visit the person, the plant, that is
    16        making the beef patties, for example, which are being
    17        supplied to McDonald's.  If the beef pattie processor,
    18        manufacturer, is getting his beef from a slaughterhouse
    19        which he does not own, whose is the primary responsibility
    20        to see that the slaughterhouse maintains good standards of
    21        hygiene?
    22        A.  It is the suppliers' responsibility to make sure that
    23        that happens.
    24
    25   Q.   Notwithstanding that, do McDonald's people still visit
    26        slaughterhouses?
    27        A.  That is correct.
    28
    29   Q.   In the United States do slaughterhouses have any government
    30        inspectors in attendance?
    31        A.  Yes, they do.
    32
    33   Q.   What functions do those government inspectors perform, do
    34        you know?
    35        A.  They perform functions from animal welfare.  They
    36        inspect the conditions in which the animals arrive at that
    37        particular facility.  They primarily focus on the hygiene
    38        and cleanliness of the facilities as well as the meat or
    39        the animals that are being processed.
    40
    41   Q.   Do McDonald's suppliers have facilities for laboratory
    42        analysis of the product?
    43        A.  Yes, we do around the world.
    44
    45   Q.   Are they necessarily in-house or do they sometimes use
    46        outside laboratories?
    47        A.  It could be either way.
    48
    49   Q.   Is either one acceptable to McDonald's?
    50        A.  Yes, it is. 
    51 
    52   Q.   So far as animal welfare is concerned in the United States 
    53        at least, do the government inspectors have veterinary
    54        qualifications?
    55        A.  Yes, they do.  Usually, we require a veterinary degree
    56        or a food science degree.
    57
    58   Q.   You may have been told -- I think you have been -- that
    59        there was in this country in a town in the north of England
    60        an outbreak of food poisoning attributed to one restaurant,

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