Day 079 - 27 Jan 95 - Page 02

     
     1                                      Friday, 27th January, 1995.
     2
     3                    MR. LOUIS DAVID WALKER, recalled.
     4             Cross-Examined by the Defendants, continued.
     5
     6   MS. STEEL:   You said in paragraph 20 of your statement -- I do
     7        not know whether you want to get it down?  Do you want it?
     8        A.  I will listen to what you say first.
     9
    10   Q.   That in July 1990 you started to test for E.coli and that
    11        at that time you did not know if the testing equipment
    12        would prove satisfactory or whether it would be
    13        meaningful.  Is that statement correct?
    14        A.  I think I would like to read the statement, the way you
    15        have read it.  If you could tell me which file it is in,
    16        please?
    17
    18   Q.   I think it is in two files, "Food Poisoning" which is
    19        yellow VII -----
    20
    21   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Use the yellow IX.  They are exactly the same
    22        but the yellow IX was the one that he signed.
    23
    24   MS. STEEL:  I have the one in yellow.
    25
    26   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That is all right because the statement is
    27        identical.  The one you have has the January date on it.
    28        The yellow IX has a February one and it is actually signed
    29        but the contents are the same.
    30
    31   THE WITNESS:   Which paragraph is it?
    32
    33   Q.   It is page 6 of the statement, that is, internal page 6.
    34        A.  I see, yes.  In paragraph 21 it, is referring to
    35        paragraph 20; we had a very bright, young South African
    36        bacteriologist working in the laboratory and at that time
    37        we did not know whether it would work or not.  She on her
    38        own initiative saw this new method of technique for testing
    39        for E.coli, and the point of that in my statement is that
    40        we were ahead of the game.
    41
    42   Q.   Yes, but the point I am making is that you said that you
    43        did not know whether the test proved satisfactory or
    44        meaningful after the random checks -- I mean, this is after
    45        the random checks proved negative so ......
    46        A.  No, I do not read it that way and I did not say it that
    47        way.  The point I am trying to make there is it was a new
    48        technology, a new technique.  Sally Turnbridge spotted it
    49        and she brought it in on her own initiative and, because we
    50        could not find any, we did not know whether it was working 
    51        or not, but, I mean, that is just a matter of experiment. 
    52 
    53   Q.   Yes.  So this was just an experiment at this time?
    54        A.  At that time, yes.  It was a new technology.
    55
    56   Q.   You said that there were random checks.  What percentage of
    57        the combos were being tested?
    58        A.  As I say there, they were random tests.  It was not a
    59        set procedure so, I mean, she would be taking samples from
    60        various different combo bins.  I could not tell you how