Day 066 - 14 Dec 94 - Page 21


     
     1        of thing?
     2        A.  We have very stringent rules that are required that our
     3        restaurants have a pest control programme, that the place
     4         -- in fact that is one of our founding principles, that we
     5        founded and developed a company based on quality, service,
     6        cleanliness and value.  Cleanliness is the operative word
     7        here.  Our restaurants are clean.  So, if the restaurants
     8        are clean, they will not attract insects and, in spite of
     9        that, we have pest controls programmes.  So, if something
    10        happens, obviously, we will take action.
    11
    12   Q.   Dr. Gonzales, finally this on food safety:  It is clear
    13        from what you have told us that McDonald's record on food
    14        safety is a good one.  Do you see any cause for
    15        complacency?
    16        A.  No.
    17
    18   Q.   In relation to food safety.
    19        A.  No, we do not.  Just to give you an idea, a while ago
    20        you mentioned there is -- let us make an assumption there
    21        is a risk, to give you an idea, the risk or record:  We
    22        have today, tomorrow, 28 million people, customers, that
    23        will visit our restaurants every single day of the year.
    24        If you look back at our record and if you make that, if you
    25        make the mathematics, that 28 million people a year would
    26        be close to around ten billion, US billion.  It is a huge
    27        number.  If you see the people that are or the incidents
    28        that have been linked or associated -- they are not,
    29        sometimes we have not been a direct link, been associated
    30        with a food-borne disease -- it is extremely low.  As low
    31        as it is, we still take that very seriously because we feel
    32        one incident is too many, no matter how many people visit
    33        our restaurants.  So, we do take it seriously.
    34
    35   Q.   I suppose it is obvious, it would not be very good for
    36        business, I suppose, if large numbers of people got ill and
    37        perhaps died after eating at McDonald's, would it?
    38        A.  If I can clarify that we do not do it for business
    39        reasons.  We do it because it is the right thing to do and
    40        because our customers trust us and trust our food and our
    41        company.  In fact, we spend a lot of money on that
    42        programme.
    43
    44   Q.   I should have asked you that.  I do not have any figures
    45        and I do not have if you have; have you any rough idea how
    46        much annually McDonald's spends on its overall food safety
    47        policies and their application?
    48        A.  Oh, a good question -- we do not keep track of a
    49        serious issue like that, but it is in the millions.  It is
    50        definitely millions in the US alone, just in the testing, 
    51        we calculated roughly around 10 million just to test our 
    52        product and make sure it does not have the wrong kind of 
    53        bacteria.
    54
    55   Q.   You said you do not keep track of the cost of that sort of
    56        an issue.  I am going to ask you:  Do you feel any internal
    57        pressure at McDonald's to keep the costs of this kind of
    58        thing down as far as you can?
    59        A.  No, we do not.  I can recall a conversation or a
    60        direction from our Chief Food Safety Officer who said:

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