Day 020 - 28 Jul 94 - Page 02
1 MR. RAMPTON: Before we continue, Professor Wheelock managed to
produce the document about nitrates and nitrates from the
2 Ministry of Agriculture which he mentioned in his evidence
which your Lordship asked if he could find; he has done
3 it. We have allocated it to tab 11, new tab 11, in orange
volume IIIA. The markings on it were done by Professor
4 Wheelock before we got the copies. (Handed).
5 MS. STEEL (To the witness): Have you got the report from
February? It would be the orange file, I think it is tab
6 B.
A. Yes.
7
Q. When you refer on the first page to a modest number
8 receiving prestun electric shocks, how many was that?
A. It is not given in the report and I do not recollect
9 offhand.
10 Q. You do not know roughly what you might put down as
"modest" in terms of a percentage?
11 A. It may be of the order of 10 per cent, but that is a
guess.
12
Q. Is it important to have easy access to part of the water
13 bath so that you can clearly observe whether or not the
birds are receiving prestun shocks?
14 A. It varies considerably between processing plants. In
the case of this particular processing plant, the physical
15 access was difficult but possible. What was more
difficult was the fact that there was a lot of splashing
16 from the water bath itself, and the splashes would either
get in your eyes or on your spectacles and that made it
17 difficult to continuously observe the situation.
18 Q. You could actually get to the water bath?
A. It was physically possible to get to the water bath.
19
Q. Is the problem with a lot of splashing one that is
20 something you find at all?
A. No, if you want an explanation for the splashing, one
21 could be that when the birds are drawn into the water and
they receive the electric current, their wings prior to
22 that would have been positioned downwards. They are by
the muscle contraction brought upwards abruptly and this
23 can flick water up from the water bath into the air.
24 Q. But is it a problem with observing the birds receiving
prestun shock, is that a common problem in poultry
25 slaughter places?
A. It is. Usually it can be a problem where there is
26 restricted access for safety reasons to the water bath
stun area, otherwise it is not usually a problem.
27
Q. Right.
28 A. With that one limitation or exception.
29 Q. When you say restricted access in terms of safety, are you
meaning they do not let people in, or you mean if they get
30 in it is dangerous or what?
A. Quite often now you see the water bath area actually
