Day 092 - 27 Feb 95 - Page 28
1 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Day what?
2
3 MR. RAMPTON: Day 91, 17th February, page 35, and on from that.
4 That is one that they do not use any more. I am just
5 looking for a reference of anything more up-to-date.
6
7 MR. MORRIS: It also says -----
8
9 MR. JUSTICE BELL: If you go back to -- my reference is Case
10 View, not the final transcript -- page 29 on Case View.
11
12 MR. MORRIS: If I can read out a reference on day 90 page 42 of
13 the transcript. "Going on to the following page, under
14 (iii), what growth promoters are in the Sun Valley Poultry
15 feed? Answer: We do vary the growth promothers. The ones
16 normally used are Zinc Bacitracin or Virginia Mycin or Avo
17 Parcin ... Question: Are they antibiotics? Answer: They
18 are antibiotic compounds in that they are derived
19 originally from microbial organisms ... Their purpose is as
20 growth promoters and they also help to improve digestion".
21
22 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, very well.
23
24 MR. MORRIS: "Question: Are they fed to the chickens from their
25 arrival until leaving, or what? Answer: Yes, the birds
26 would be fed them fed from arrival in the five days before
27 slaughter".
28
29 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think what threw me is they are antibiotics
30 but they are also growth promoters. I was focused on
31 growth promoters in relation to that part of the evidence.
32 Anyway, that is the basis for this line of questioning, Dr.
33 Gomez Gonzalez.
34
35 MR. MORRIS (To the witness): So, is that a criticism of Sun
36 Valley that they feel they have to use antibiotics in their
37 feed?
38 A. No, it is not. It would be like, for example, new
39 clothes. If it happens to be contaminated with bacteria,
40 can you say that it is your fault because you did not grow
41 the cotton, because you did not make the shirt -- no, you
42 cannot. Tyson has a unique advantage. They are completely
43 integrated, so they own the birds, they own the breeds that
44 lay the hatching eggs, they own the hatcheries and
45 everything else all the way to the distribution centres.
46 There is very few companies that can do that, that can
47 afford to do that, that have the technology to do that.
48 Sun Valley, I do not believe they have their own breeding
49 stock.
50
51 A lot of the potential problems come from buying and
52 hatching eggs. When you bring them into your hatchery,
53 they could be contaminated with bacteria and, obviously,
54 anything can be contaminated with bacteria because you will
55 always find bacteria in the air and the water, so is that a
56 criticism of them -- no.
57
58 Q. So if they had control over the hatching of the eggs, then
59 they should be able to be more on top of the disease
60 problems?
