Day 104 - 15 Mar 95 - Page 61
1
2 Q. Have you seen better standards in any other country in the
3 world?
4 A. I would not say I have seen better standards; I have
5 seen very similar standards.
6
7 Q. You said in that paper: "There is no doubt that priority
8 given to animal welfare in the UK has not been followed
9 with similar activity in other European countries." Are
10 other European countries catching up with the standards in
11 this country as regards animal welfare?
12 A. Well, that comment was in particular reference to
13 things other than poultry farming. It was a general
14 statement that applied to other animals like veal calves,
15 transporting horses, transporting sheep long distances and
16 in those areas I think the UK is definitely taking a lead.
17 That comment was not meant for poultry particularly and you
18 have to remember that that particular lecture was not
19 geared at poultry only.
20
21 MS. STEEL: You said in that document: "The general public are
22 becoming more aware of farming systems and this is good.
23 It is necessary also for companies producing animal
24 products to supply their customers with all the information
25 they need to feel comfortable about the products they are
26 buying". Is that something that Sun Valley practices?
27 A. Yes, it is.
28
29 Q. So you would open your doors to anybody who was interested
30 to see the conditions that our chickens are kept in, yes?
31 A. As I said, we will give them all the information they
32 need. I explained yesterday why we did not necessarily
33 open our doors to all and sundry.
34
35 Q. Do you think McDonald's ought to give information on the
36 way chickens are marketed at Sun Valley?
37
38 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You need not answer that question.
39
40 MS. STEEL: McDonald's asked you to do this presentation in
41 1993. Was that the first time you had done any such thing
42 for McDonald's staff?
43 A. As a group, yes.
44
45 Q. Why did McDonald's say they wanted you to give this talk to
46 their staff?
47 A. Because I had talked about various aspects of that
48 information to various of the UK McDonald's staff, and what
49 they felt at their annual conference of quality assurance
50 staff, they thought it would be a good idea to give the
51 talk to all of those so that they were informed of what we
52 were talking about and what our thinking was in the UK.
53
54 Q. So that was just a quality assurance staff, yes?
55 A. Yes, it was.
56
57 Q. Did you actually show them slides or a video of the
58 conditions that the animals were kept in?
59 A. I just did a standard slide presentation.
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