Day 059 - 01 Dec 94 - Page 07
1 A. Yes, very well.
2
3 Q. Do you know their veterinary officer, Dr. Mark Pattison?
4 A. I know of him. I have not met him personally.
5
6 Q. McKey do not themselves slaughter any pigs or beef cattle,
7 do they?
8 A. No, they do not.
9
10 Q. Have you had any contact with the people that supply them
11 with beef and pigs?
12 A. Yes, I have visited most of the abattoirs.
13
14 Q. Can I, first of all, ask you to read to yourself (because
15 it is tedious to listen to me reading it out) the document
16 on the first page, the "McDonald's position" document, page
17 1, and tell me when you have finished reading it?
18 A. Yes.
19
20 Q. You will notice that it says that you will not work, you,
21 McDonald's, will not work with anybody who does not adhere
22 to the standards required by law; that insists that its
23 animals are reared in a clean, safe, hygienic and
24 comfortable environment and that humane methods of killing
25 are used; that you will not accept beef originating from
26 cattle subjected to growth promoters or hormone treatment;
27 that the meat must come from EC approved abattoirs, and so
28 on and so forth. What I was going to ask you was this,
29 what steps does McDonald's take to ensure that these stated
30 requirements are complied with by the suppliers?
31 A. McDonald's Quality Assurance Department would accompany
32 the suppliers to the abattoirs and, indeed, to the farms in
33 some instances to insure that steps are being complied
34 with. We also have access to all the veterinary officers'
35 reports as and when animals are slaughtered through the
36 abattoirs.
37
38 Q. It has been suggested in this case, I think, that there was
39 a time when McDonald's, I think in 1984, was supposed to
40 have entered into a partnership with Sun Valley Poultry to
41 help them introduce or by which they helped them introduce
42 new methods of farming. Are you conscious of that
43 suggestion?
44 A. No, I am not. We do not have a contract or a
45 partnership with any supplier that we deal with on
46 principle. Sun Valley Poultry, as I said to you earlier,
47 was a company I personally started. Sun Valley Poultry had
48 in place, when I first visited them, all the farming
49 infrastructure that they currently have today. What we
50 added to Sun Valley Poultry was the technological knowledge
51 for deboning meat and for preforming McDonald's products
52 through processing.
53
54 Q. What assistance did McDonald's give in that particular
55 venture?
56 A. We accompanied Sun Valley to the United States to look
57 at companies already producing chicken McNuggetts and
58 chicken sandwich and through those visits they saw
59 technology that was needed, the control and specifications
60 that were needed and the processing equipment that was
