Day 086 - 09 Feb 95 - Page 47


     
     1        I was in the stand here.  I had not heard -- I had heard
     2        about the Preston incident.  It was known as the Preston
     3        incident where until I came in here I just knew it was
     4        alleged, thought, that it may have something to do with
     5        McDonald's, although when I started reading through this
     6        I found out that we had admitted liability for this case
     7        alone.  That really was the limit of my knowledge on this
     8        issue.
     9
    10   MR. MORRIS:  Just for your education, George Rummel of the
    11        McDonald's Corporation in the USA has said in his statement
    12        for this case, point 3 of his statement:  "In 1982
    13        approximately 47 people, mostly in Michigan and Oregon, not
    14        all of whom had eaten at McDonald's, were found to be
    15        infected with a previously unknown strain of E.coli.  The
    16        Centre for Disease Control performed a statistical analysis
    17        of the outbreak and concluded ... (reading to the
    18        words) ... as a means of settling the matter to everyone's
    19        satisfaction.  There was never admission of liability on
    20        McDonald's part".  Do you not think someone in your
    21        position who is ultimately responsibility for food safety
    22        matters and who is coming to court to give evidence on that
    23        matter should know about these incidents and the
    24        authorities' reports into them, the statutory authorities'
    25        reports into them?
    26
    27   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Why not take them separately because there
    28        may be a difference between the two.  What about Oregon, do
    29        you think you should have known about Oregon?
    30        A.  It would have been advantageous, I would have been able
    31        to answer your questions a little bit better, but I do not
    32        think it is necessary for me to perform my current job to
    33        the best of my ability to know of this one incident. I full
    34        understand all matters of food safety.  I have been on an
    35        advanced hygiene course, an advanced food safety course,
    36        health and safety course.
    37
    38        I have been in the restaurant for, with the Company for 12
    39        years.  I have been instrumental in many of the changes
    40        that have made McDonald's even a safer place to eat.  If
    41        you bring to my attention now just two instances throughout
    42        the history of McDonald's where it may have been that some
    43        people have had food poisoning incidents, then I would
    44        suggest that the system that we have is very safe and the
    45        measures that we take are very effective.
    46
    47   MR. MORRIS:  Just on the subject of only two instances,
    48        Mr. Rummel also admits that in 1987 that there was
    49        cross-contamination from an employee into a prepared shrimp
    50        salad which resulted in typhoid poisoning of customers. 
    51        That was in Silver Spring, Maryland. 
    52 
    53   MR. RAMPTON:  Perhaps Mr. Morris ----
    54
    55   MR. MORRIS:  Did you know that at all?
    56
    57   MR. RAMPTON:  -- would like to read out the whole of the
    58        paragraph as he did in the previous case?
    59
    60   MR. MORRIS:  "In 1987 the local health department found an

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