Day 094 - 01 Mar 95 - Page 49
1
2 Q. You have mentioned that one.
3
4 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, we have dealt with that.
5 A. I disagree with that.
6
7 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You have given your response to that.
8 A. The other part of the equation might be true, I do not
9 know, that it is sold to fast-food restaurants, I do not
10 know. Definitely that kind of meat does not go into our
11 products.
12
13 MS. STEEL: Following that procedure, is it correct that
14 somebody, a worker, known as a "pregutter" would open up
15 the carcass to remove the offal and paunch?
16 A. That is correct.
17
18 Q. Would you agree that then 50 to 60 per cent of the carcass
19 becomes contaminated with faecal matter?
20 A. No, I do not.
21
22 Q. Or any of the other things that are written in that part?
23 A. No, I do not.
24
25 Q. What percentage would you say would become contaminated
26 then?
27 A. This particular farm -- I am sorry, abattoir, I do not
28 know, but significantly less than that.
29
30 Q. The ones that you have seen then, what would you say, about
31 30 per cent or something?
32 A. No, no. It is single digits, the most. They are
33 plants where it just does not happen at all.
34
35 Q. Why is that? We have heard in this country that recently
36 the company has ask for the oesophagus to be tied off; is
37 that something that has been introduced in America as well?
38 A. We have been doing it for a long time. It is part of
39 the normal practices.
40
41 Q. How long has that been the case?
42 A. It is difficult to say for how long. There is a great
43 number of abattoirs that do not know -- that have this
44 procedure in place. I do not know when they started. From
45 what I have visited, they have been doing that, the ones
46 I have visited.
47
48 Q. The ones you have visited have been doing it for quite some
49 time?
50 A. That is correct.
51
52 Q. It took three or four years or something like that?
53 A. That is correct.
54
55 Q. Then there are others that are not doing it?
56 A. Yes, that is correct.
57
58 Q. The reason for doing that is to prevent this kind of thing
59 happening?
60 A. It is one more thing that you can do to increase the
