Day 102 - 13 Mar 95 - Page 54


     
     1        is where the line stops for some emergency reason and
     2        manual killing continues.  I can see that, suppose you have
     3        a dozen birds which have been through the stunning bath,
     4        but when it is stops have not got to the cutter, then those
     5        are killed manually?
     6        A.  Yes.
     7
     8   Q.   However many there are?
     9        A.  Yes.
    10
    11   Q.   Because there they are?
    12        A.  That is right.
    13
    14   Q.   Literally in limbo?
    15        A.  Yes.
    16
    17   Q.   Under what circumstances would the line then be started up
    18        again with chickens being shackled, going through the
    19        stunning bath and then being killed manually, the cutter
    20        having been bypassed, presumably, and then on down the
    21        line; does that happen?
    22        A.  Well, I must say that I have never seen that happen and
    23        I have never seen the cutter, the neck cutter, out of
    24        action.  The line is usually stopped for some other
    25        reason.  The neck cutter itself is not a piece of equipment
    26        that we would normally expect to have problems with.  So,
    27        this provision for manual killing, I think, is literally an
    28        emergency of which I have never actually had experience.
    29
    30   MS. STEEL:   The company also does allow killing; is that right?
    31        A.  That is correct, yes.
    32
    33   Q.   Have you seen that?
    34        A.  No, I have not actually been present when the
    35        appropriate religious people have been there.  But, in
    36        fact, for various reasons that I do not understand, these
    37        religious people do accept that stunning in an operation
    38        such as ours does have to take place.  So, they will accept
    39        stunned meat.
    40
    41   Q.   Is that the standard procedure -- well, if you have not
    42        seen it.  If the tracks break down the birds are put back
    43        in the crates, are they; is that right?
    44        A.  Yes.  That is correct.  That has to be done.
    45
    46   Q.   How fast does the line move normally when everything is
    47        working smoothly?
    48        A.  The normal rate, I think, is four-and-a-half thousand
    49        birds per hour.
    50 
    51   Q.   Is there a different rate for evisceration? 
    52        A.  No, it is the rate of the line.  Obviously, all the 
    53        processes have to be carried out continuously, so there is
    54        no different rate for that.
    55
    56   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That is on two lines?
    57        A.  That is on two lines.
    58
    59   Q.   So each line part of the four-and-a-half thousand?
    60        A.  Each line are working at four-and-a-half thousand

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