Day 099 - 08 Mar 95 - Page 60
1
2 Q. -- can take to control the incidence in the product of
3 nematode parasitic worms?
4 A. There are not any steps you can take to control it in
5 the raw product. The only thing you can do is look for it
6 in the frozen cod blocks which they do do.
7
8 Q. They do, do they?
9 A. Yes, they do using candelling tables. Basically, it is
10 a table with a bright light underneath so you can see.
11 They use the same technique to look for bones.
12
13 Q. Like what we used to look at eggs with?
14 A. Yes, the same thing. Unfortunately, the technology
15 does not exist currently to use techniques similar to the
16 one that we use on chickens for on object detection.
17
18 Q. There is not an X-ray machine that works?
19 A. Correct.
20
21 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Does it do any physical harm, because I
22 have to keep reminding myself that we are actually in the
23 area of food poisoning here, do they carry any risk of
24 infection with them?
25 A. There is absolutely no risk of infection. The only
26 problem is they are rather unpleasant to discover in
27 your ......
28
29 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I can see that, but is there any risk of ---
30 A. As far as I am aware ---
31
32 Q. -- illness?
33 A. -- there is absolutely no risk of illness attached to
34 cod worms being present.
35
36 MR. RAMPTON: They do not transfer their parasiticm to human
37 beings?
38 A. No.
39
40 MR. JUSTICE BELL: They cannot live in the human body.
41 A. The worms would never survive live anyway because they
42 are immediately frozen into solid blocks. The fish is
43 frozen to solid blocks and it remains in that form for a
44 number of weeks before it is even processed and coated and
45 battered for us so the worms would not be alive.
46
47 MR. RAMPTON: What sort temperature is the filet-o-fish cooked
48 at?
49 A. Filet-o-fish will then be cooked to a -- it reaches an
50 internal temperature in excess of 80 degrees.
51
52 Q. Then it is said that in March 1989, or about then, some
53 customers who consumed hamburgers in McDonald's on the Isle
54 of Wight suffered food poisoning. Do you know anything
55 about that?
56 A. No, I do not. I did try to find out about it and
57 actually spoke to the store manager, or who was the store
58 manager at the time, and he had no knowledge either.
59
60 Q. Never mind that. You found nothing in your record; is that
