Day 125 - 12 May 95 - Page 39


     
     1        so actually we were getting less beef, 100 per cent beef,
     2        than we were paying for.  We had some -----
     3
     4   Q.   Were they suppliers that had been supplying you for
     5        sometime, yet you dismissed them?
     6        A.  That is out and out cheap.  The specifications -----
     7
     8   Q.   Had they been doing it for sometime and then you found out
     9        about it, or what?
    10        A.  I cannot say that happened in each and every case, but
    11        in some cases we found, made unscheduled visits to plants
    12        and we saw employees, under direction of management,
    13        putting ice into the meat, which added if it is fresh meat,
    14        which added weight to the meat, that meant we were paying
    15        them X cents a pound for meat.
    16
    17   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Can you remember when that was happened, and
    18        whether there was any ground for knowing whether it
    19        happened for long or just started, and so on?
    20        A.  Well, during the course of carrying out my
    21        responsibilities at the time, there were notices sent out
    22        indicating that X meat supplier had been no longer
    23        authorised and -----
    24
    25   Q.   Just pause a moment.  All I am asking at the moment is you
    26        have obviously called to mind an occasion -- there may
    27        have been more than one, but an occasion anyway-- when a
    28        supplier was sacked because, on an unheralded visit, it was
    29        found he was putting ice into the patty to give you the
    30        same weight for less beef.  All I am asking is, can you
    31        remember when that was in time?
    32        A.  During the 70s, the late 60s and 70s.  Another
    33        example  -----
    34
    35   Q.   No, sorry I want to take it in stages.
    36        A.  The 60s.
    37
    38   Q.   There was a specific reason for asking.  How many suppliers
    39        did that happen by your recollection?
    40        A.  I cannot recall the number.  I would not be
    41        the person  -----
    42
    43   Q.   No, but was it one or two or a dozen?
    44        A.  It was probably closer to a dozen.  Obviously when that
    45        happened it sent a very strong signal through the rest of
    46        the community that that was something that was not going to
    47        be tolerated within one of their peers -----
    48
    49   Q.   I am just trying to get some particular facts without any
    50        gloss at the moment.  Did you have any basis for concluding 
    51        how long that had been happening, or might have been 
    52        happening? 
    53        A.  First-hand basis?
    54
    55   Q.   Well, can you express any sound view as to how long?
    56        A.  Yes, in some cases there was repetition of that,
    57        repetition of using, going beyond our parameters on fat
    58        content.  As indicated in the book we had a certain range,
    59        17 to -----
    60

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