Day 059 - 01 Dec 94 - Page 23

     
     1        A.  They are made by McCain Foods in Scarborough.
     2
     3   Q.   What is the process by which they are prepared for your
     4        use?
     5        A.  The total process?
     6
     7   Q.   Yes.  I mean, assume that they have been dug out of the
     8        ground, first of all.
     9        A.  Okay.  Well, I will take you from the beginning:  After
    10        harvesting, the potato is stored.  It then comes as
    11        required into the french fry plant.  The potatoes are
    12        cleaned and peeled, blanched, cut, fried and frozen and
    13        then packed.
    14
    15   Q.   I am coming to dextrose in a minute -- have no fear.
    16
    17   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  There is an actual french fry plant, is
    18        there?
    19        A.  There are many, my Lord, yes.
    20
    Q.   But you have a whole factory devoted to french fries, or it
    22        is the section of the factory which deals -- it is a line
    23        in the factory which deals with french fries?
    24        A.  That is correct in a number of factories, yes.  We buy
    25        it from more than one factory.
    26
    27   MR. RAMPTON:  You say that they are fried.  McCain's, amongst
    28        other things, provide french fries or, as we call them
    29        here, chips, to the market at large, do they not?
    30        A.  Yes, they do, very large suppliers.
    31
    32   Q.   I can buy them frozen in the supermarket and cook them at
    33        home, can I not?
    34        A.  Absolutely and you will get them frozen in a hotel
    35        also.
    36
    37   Q.   You say that McCain's actually fry them before they freeze
    38        them; is that right?
    39        A.  They power fry.
    40
    Q.   I was going to ask what McDonald's actually has to do to
    42        them when they get into the restaurant?
    43        A.  They power fry simply because the cooking time in the
    44        restaurant will be shorter.  So, they partly fry the french
    45        fry in the factory, therefore, when we cook the fry in the
    46        restaurant we have a much shorter cooking time.
    47
    48   Q.   What is the relevance of dextrose to the french fries sold
    49        by McDonald's?
    50        A.  The reference to dextrose is that a potato when it is 
    51        stored will develop natural sugars.  Therefore, when the 
    52        potato comes out of the ground it has little or no natural 
    53        sugars.  As you go through a crop year and the storage gets
    54        longer and longer, and if you are processing next June
    55        after a potato was harvested last September, it will have
    56        acquired quite a lot of natural sugars.  This can be
    57        bleached out which we prefer not to do.
    58
    59        The consequence of this is that at the end of the crop
    60        year, the fries sold in our restaurants are relatively at