Day 092 - 27 Feb 95 - Page 20
1 A. That was done in 1992 and published in 1993.
2
3 Q. Published by?
4 A. I am not sure whether -- I believe it was through the
5 National Cattlemen's Association, both reports.
6
7 Q. But there are concerns, you say, that these reports were
8 done because of increasing competition for pork and chicken
9 ---
10 A. Yes.
11
12 Q. -- products?
13 A. That is correct.
14
15 Q. Is that because the public is concerned about pesticide
16 residues and growth hormones, rightly or wrongly, but is it
17 because they are concerned about that, that they may be
18 turning away from beef consumption?
19 A. No, that is not the concern. The results of that study
20 show that the No. 1 concern is fat.
21
22 Q. Is the what?
23 A. Fat.
24
25 Q. Fat?
26 A. Yes.
27
28 Q. That is the main public concern about beef?
29 A. From the study, that is the result that showed the
30 studies.
31
32 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The picture I have, rightly or wrongly, is
33 the cattle industry wanted to know how better to compete
34 with pork and poultry industry?
35 A. Right.
36
37 Q. Ways of doing that might be, for instance, to use more
38 growth promoting hormones, but you have then to look at
39 what, if any, consequences there might be of that. Was
40 that part of the purpose of the report?
41 A. Yes, that was a very small part of it. When
42 I said -----
43
44 Q. They were quite wide-ranging studies, were they?
45 A. Oh, yes, they were very wide.
46
47 Q. But they touched on the subjects which Mr. Morris has
48 raised?
49 A. That is correct. It was very small regarding the
50 hormones. When I said the main concern, they wanted to
51 see, to compete. The best way that -- we found out
52 everybody knows the best way to compete is to produce the
53 highest quality products at the lowest cost. When I said
54 fat, this is the main concern of fat, it was that it cost a
55 lot of money to produce fat. It costs time and it cost
56 feed. So, for them to be more competitive in reduce the
57 cost of beef, was to reduce the amount of fat that has not
58 been properly deposited in the animal.
59
60 Q. Just leave that alone for the moment. They were obviously
