Day 098 - 07 Mar 95 - Page 15

     
     1
     2   Q.   This may be challenged, but what you are purporting to do
     3        is carry out specimen sampling checks which experience or
     4        research, rightly or wrongly, has shown should be safe
     5        enough, is that basically -----
     6        A.  And representative of the process.  Yes, that is
     7        correct.
     8
     9   Q.   To a representative degree which, rightly or wrongly, you
    10        consider is safe enough?
    11        A.  Yes.
    12
    13   Q.   Is that ---
    14        A.  What it boils down to, sir, yes.
    15
    16   Q.   -- what it boils down to, yes.
    17
    18   MR. MORRIS:  So say, for example, in terms of specifically
    19        testing the parts of the animal that might go to McKeys,
    20        which are something like an eighth of the carcass or
         something like that?
    22        A.  Yes.
    23
    24   Q.   Those parts would only be done as part of the whole
    25        sampling of the different bits of carcass from different
    26        animals.  Do you see what I am saying?  So, if you do eight
    27        tests, one of them is going to be specifically on a piece
    28        of meat that might be relevant to McKeys?
    29        A.  Specifically on a piece of meat that might be relevant
    30        to McKeys, yes, I suppose -- I mean, we do not check every
    31        cut on every carcass for every customer, obviously.  We
    32        have a sampling programme which we think is representative
    33        of the whole of our production.
    34
    35   Q.   You could not do it for every customer ---
    36        A.  Sure, no.
    37
    38   Q.   -- you would not be able to.  How many samples do you do in
    39        a day?
    40        A.  You would have to ask my microbiologist to get an exact
         number, but it would be somewhere around 60.  Then each of
    42        those could be analysed for different bacteria as we spoke
    43        about.
    44
    45   Q.   I understand.  What is the period of time before the actual
    46        results of the tests are known on the sample?  I mean, some
    47        of the tests take longer to get back the information, do
    48        they not?
    49        A.  Yes.
    50 
    51   Q.   Do you happen to know how long, say, for example, 
    52        Salmonella, does it take to know the result of that test? 
    53        A.  Not being a specialised microbiologist, I could not
    54        give you an exact answer, but I think it depends very much
    55        on the cultivation of it.  It is very much like, sort of,
    56        farming.  You cannot judge these things exactly.
    57
    58   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I do not think at the moment Mr. Morris wants
    59        you to be technical.  What he wants to know is from taking
    60        a piece of meat from a carcass, how long is it before