Day 066 - 14 Dec 94 - Page 70
1 in Europe, as you probably know, but what about other parts
2 of the world?
3 A. It is allowed in most of the countries, including the
4 US.
5
6 Q. How are these growth promoting hormones administered to the
7 animal?
8 A. Implants in the back of the ear, yes.
9
10 Q. They are sort of slow released?
11 A. It is a slow release hormone, yes.
12
13 Q. Have you studied the question of whether any residues of
14 antibiotics or growth promoting hormones or both which may
15 be found in the meat of animals consumed by humans, let us
16 take the United States, have any implications for human
17 health, have you studied that question?
18 A. Yes, I have studied that quite extensively.
19
20 Q. What is your conclusion?
21 A. That there is no traceable effect to humans; humans
22 will not be affected in any shape or form or there is no
23 scientific data that will support that there is any type of
24 detrimental effect to humans.
25
26 Q. I want to come back to broilers and take them through to
27 the point at which they are killed. When their growing
28 period has finished in the growing house they have to be
29 transported to the slaughterhouse. We know how that is
30 done in this country, but I would like you to tell us,
31 broadly speaking, how it is done in the rest of the world.
32 First of all, how are the chickens, by what method are the
33 chickens removed from the growing house and put on to
34 whatever kind of transport they are going to use?
35 A. From the growing houses, and it is usually done at
36 night, there are some people that would go around the house
37 picking up the birds. They will be then transported to
38 cages and those cages will be loaded into a truck. Then
39 the animals will be transported and will arrive at the
40 abattoirs where they will be, normally if it is hot, under
41 cover with fans and sometimes humidifiers too.
42
43 Q. Before we get to what happens next, which part of the body
44 do the people that come at night pick up the chickens by?
45 A. They pick them up by the legs.
46
47 Q. To what extent, in your experience, does that tend to cause
48 injury to the chickens?
49 A. Very small. Very small.
50
51 Q. How far, in your experience, is it the case that chickens
52 when they have been transported to the slaughterhouse are
53 found to be dead on arrival?
54 A. Usually it could be 1 or 2 per cent of the birds will
55 be.
56
57 Q. What are the commonest causes of death in transit?
58 A. It could be suffocation. If one chick will get on top
59 of the other it could be suffocated. They could have
60 internal injuries and, really, sometimes they bleed to
