Day 101 - 10 Mar 95 - Page 51
1
2 Q. It is a concern of meat quality?
3 A. No, it is not. Birds are hung by their feet.
4
5 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It startles me that that part of the bird is
6 eaten, is it? How far does the shackle go?
7 A. The shackle is around what would be the sort of ankles
8 of the birds. Those are removed. After evisceration they
9 go offer I guess to the Far East somewhere. They are
10 certainly not part of any of McDonald's products. The
11 changes that were made in the shackling line were purely to
12 aid the comfort of the birds with different sized legs,
13 purely a welfare issue.
14
15 MR. MORRIS: Are you concerned about the transport of birds to
16 the slaughterhouse, the conditions?
17 A. Yes.
18
19 Q. That the birds suffer in transport?
20 A. Transport is an extremely important of the animal
21 welfare.
22
23 Q. If the mortality rate was five times what it is actually
24 inside a broiler shed for the equivalent time-scale, would
25 that concern you?
26
27 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You may have some good points in this case,
28 but I really cannot believe that the fact that five times
29 as many chickens die in, say, two hours on a lorry as do
30 die standing around in one of these units is one of your
31 best points.
32
33 MR. MORRIS: Well. I think the transport of an animal is an
34 important issue when it comes to cruelty.
35
36 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is important but comparing hours on a
37 lorry with two hours just being in the unit is not really
38 helpful. It is obvious that there must be more stress on a
39 chicken in a lorry than being in a broiler unit.
40
41 MR. MORRIS: Yes, and if the last minute before they are killed
42 is important in terms of shackles, then I think the last
43 two hours before they are -----
44
45 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That is a different consideration altogether.
46
47 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, with respect -----
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49 MR. JUSTICE BELL: If I may say so, I think to suggest first of
50 all that shackles were changed because the quality of such
51 meat that there is on a chicken's ankle ----
52
53 MR. MORRIS: That was my mistake.
54
55 MR. JUSTICE BELL: There we are.
56
57 MR. MORRIS: But the transport, they do concern you, do they?
58 A. It is an extremely important part of the process to
59 control from a welfare point of view because ----
60
