Day 079 - 27 Jan 95 - Page 05

     
     1        A.  No, my Lord.  I mean, I know that -----
     2
     3   Q.   You said some time ago that some people ---
     4        A.  It is not pathogenic -----
     5
     6   Q.   -- words to the effect of build up a resistance or immunity
     7        to it, but do you know about those things yourself?
     8        A.  No, not in the depth that Dr. Banks does.
     9
    10   MS. STEEL:  So, do you actually know anything about that area
    11        anyway at all?
    12        A.  I know what I have learnt professionally with my
    13        responsibilities to McDonald's.
    14
    15   Q.   Which is what you have been told by other people?
    16        A.  Well, I think all knowledge comes from other people.
    17
    18   Q.   Right.  Is it what you have learnt in scientific documents?
    19        A.  It is what I have learnt in scientific documents and
    20        talking to people who know the subject and talking to the
    21        bacteriologists that I employ.
    22
    23   Q.   None of them told you about whether, you know, the kind of
    24        quantities that are supposed to be found in all these
    25        humans and animals?
    26        A.  No-one can measure that.  It is an impossibility.
    27
    28   Q.   So, actually, we do not know whether it is in every human
    29        and every animal?
    30        A.  We do not know whether it is in every human.  All we do
    31        know is that it is in some humans and some animals.
    32
    33   Q.   Right, thank you.  What was the main concern about E.coli
    34        0157: H?
    35        A.  In what context?
    36
    37   Q.   Why was he talking to you about it, Jeff Banks, that is?
    38        A.  Because we requested him to talk to us and to talk to
    39        our meat suppliers.
    40
    Q.   Why did you ask him to do that?
    42        A.  That was after the case at Preston, to my memory.
    43
    44   Q.   So you thought it was a concern that E.coli 0157: H could
    45        well be ending up in the burgers?
    46        A.  I would not have thought that any more than I would
    47        think of staphylococcusalmus or staphylococcusaurus or any
    48        pathogen.  All the time we are trying to force up the
    49        standards of hygiene and procedure.
    50 
    51   Q.   If everything was OK before --- 
    52        A.  That is a good practice. 
    53
    54   Q.   -- then why bother to call in Jeff Banks, the world
    55        authority?
    56
    57   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I would have thought there is a fairly
    58        obvious answer, that if there is any risk at all of
    59        something like that, you want to try to, if not eliminate
    60        it, keep to a very minimum.  If you are suggesting that