Day 089 - 15 Feb 95 - Page 58
1 of Poultry Act.
2
3 Q. Do you observe this carefully?
4 A. The stunning of the birds is constantly observed. It
5 is a duty of the poultry meat inspectors to make regular
6 checks on the stunning, a duty of the official veterinary
7 surgeon to do this, and we also employ our own QA staff to
8 do regular checks on the lines for the whole operation from
9 stunning right through.
10
11 Q. If the OVS or the MAFF people thought that you were putting
12 your commercial interest in the quality of the product
13 before the welfare of the birds, in other words you were
14 sacrificing the welfare of birds to your commercial
15 interests, what would you expect to happen?
16 A. Well, depending on the seriousness of the case, we
17 would either have a verbal warning or a written warning
18 from the OVS, but if it was very serious he would bring in
19 a senior MAFF official straightaway and the plant could be
20 closed down.
21
22 Q. Can it be closed on the spot?
23 A. It could be closed on the spot.
24
25 Q. Going back to the old system which existed before the
26 beginning of 1993, what is your view about the efficiency,
27 leaving aside theoretical responsibilities and arguments
28 about different currents, leaving all that on one side,
29 looking at your compliance with the Humane Slaughter Act,
30 or whatever it is in this country, which requires the birds
31 should be unconscious when killed, yes, what has been your
32 assessment of the efficiency of the old machinery as a
33 stunning method?
34 A. Well, the old machinery complied with the Act in terms
35 of making the birds unconscious before the necks were cut.
36 I think the new machinery is just more efficient in
37 delivering those birds to the stunning current and that is
38 where the improvement lies.
39
40 Q. If a bird which is, for one reason or another, and you said
41 it was 1 in, I think I got it right, 300 or so, misses the
42 bath, perhaps because it is jiggling around on the line, is
43 that one reason why it happens?
44 A. It is possible, yes.
45
46 Q. I suppose it is possible, is it, that it might also miss
47 the automatic cutter?
48 A. That is also a possibility, a rarer possibility, but it
49 may be do and ----
50
51 Q. What is the practice if it should miss the automatic
52 cutting?
53 A. We have a person who is there, who we call a backup
54 killer, who is there to cut the head off the bird and that
55 is the recommended procedure.
56
57 Q. Is there a chance that even that might fail and the bird
58 might go right past the whole works and get into the
59 scalding tank without having been killed?
60 A. If there was gross human error, that could occur.
