Day 104 - 15 Mar 95 - Page 09


     
     1        Looking at the situation from the point of view of disease
     2        in the population, again I read the literature, and in the
     3        United Kingdom over the past two, three, four years -- that
     4        is the period during which this organism has become public
     5         -- again there have been a small number of cases -- by
     6        "small number", I mean 20, perhaps 10 in a year -- which
     7        have been associated with meat and other foods, I must
     8        hasten to add, without going into great detail  -----
     9
    10   Q.   I do not desire you to go into detail, Mr. Bennett.
    11
    12   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  When you said the 20, was that per year, 10
    13        or 20 a year, were you saying, or 20 altogether?
    14        A.  I would say 20 altogether, my Lord.
    15
    16   MR. RAMPTON:  Those are cases, are they, in which the E.coli was
    17        identified as a probable culprit, but it may not have been
    18        concerned what the origin of contamination was?
    19        A.  Exactly so.
    20
    21   Q.   Is one or is has one of your clients Alec Jarrett of
    22        Bristol; is that right?
    23        A.  Yes.
    24
    25   Q.   You must say "yes" because you are being recorded on that
    26        microphone.  That is not an aid to audibility; it is a
    27        recording machine.  When did you first come into contact
    28        with Alec Jarrett?
    29        A.  August 1993.  That was first contact I had.
    30
    31   Q.   What was the reason why you came into contact with Alec
    32        Jarrett?
    33        A.  Mr. Jarrett, the Managing Director of the company,
    34        contacted me to discuss with him the setting up of an HACCP
    35        system of quality assurance.
    36
    37   Q.   Did you visit the abattoir at that time?
    38        A.  Yes, I paid an initial visit in August, as I have said,
    39        to discuss the matter with him.
    40
    41   Q.   Would you mind telling us what sort of conditions from the
    42        food safety angle you found when you visited Alec Jarrett
    43        in August 1993 or thereafter?
    44        A.  The conditions that I found were typical of an EEC, as
    45        the phrase was then, an EEC licensed abattoir.
    46
    47   Q.   It was an EEC licensed abattoir?
    48        A.  Yes.
    49
    50   Q.   I will ask you what the requirements of that are in a 
    51        moment, but tell us when you say "typical of an EEC 
    52        licensed abattoir", give us some idea of the standards 
    53        obtaining in such an establishment.
    54        A.  The standards were clean in terms of hygienic meat
    55        production.  The staff were skillful in carrying out their
    56        operations, and in the context of a busy, high activity
    57        factory (which is what an abattoir is) which is involved in
    58        export type of trade, the conditions were satisfactory and,
    59        as far as I was aware at the time, fully meeting the
    60        requirements of the authorities.  They were in attendance

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