Day 068 - 16 Dec 94 - Page 11
1 consideration, yes, they do; they do have a wide area of
2 responsibility to manage the intent of our policy.
3
4 MR. MORRIS: What is the point of that policy if it is not
5 enforced or it is not a requirement? I want to understand
6 what the word "policy" means in that.
7
8 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What he said is, the policy is that the local
9 product should be used as much as possible. So it is not
10 an absolute. That is all part of the policy, as much as
11 possible.
12
13 MR. MORRIS: That is what I was trying to identify. In other
14 words, if it is possible to use a local product, then they
15 would not use any imports; is that the policy?
16 A. No. What we are saying is that there are a lot of
17 factors to be considered. There are times where
18 regulations would prohibit us from even being there in that
19 particular country, ourselves. I, for example, have just
20 opened Saudi Arabia yesterday. I cannot go into a
21 McDonald's store, because you have to be a Muslim to get
22 into Mecca, where we have the store.
23
24 There are other regulations which will prohibit the
25 importation or exportation of products. There are times
26 where we have some serious food safety concerns within the
27 country, where the quality of the beef does not meet our
28 specifications, and we will not use that product.
29
30 We have basically four reasons why we should not do it,
31 which we accept: one is the regulations, religion,
32 economics, or other -- there are others they have to
33 specify what it is -- that other is our customers.
34
35 There are times, just like in the US, where our boxes say,
36 it is labelled on our boxes of beef that it is "100 per
37 cent domestic beef". When we make that claim, the US
38 Department of Agriculture has to monitor that; not only our
39 suppliers, but there is a government agency that will have
40 to verify that it is 100 per cent domestic beef.
41
42 We also have additional requirements. We have in the US,
43 for example, product specification that will over-ride that
44 policy, that will say our suppliers who will use, must use,
45 100 per cent domestic beef. It has been in our
46 specification, as far as I can remember, since 1955 or
47 1956. It is for that reason that we say "as much as
48 possible".
49
50 Q. While we are on that subject, have you seen a regulation, a
51 specification, dating back to 1954/56, that says "only 100
52 per cent domestic beef", in the USA?
53 A. I am not sure. Let me see if I can understand your
54 question. You said regulation or specification? You have
55 got me confused.
56
57 Q. A specification.
58 A. OK. I have seen -----
59
60 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Sorry. This is McDonald's specification.
