Day 098 - 07 Mar 95 - Page 20

     
     1
     2   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It depends on how much you have in the
     3        chiller at a given time as well, does it, or is that more
     4        or less constant?
     5        A.  The chiller remains fairly full, but I am just thinking
     6        in terms of our production schedule.
     7
     8   MR. MORRIS:  So, for McKeys -----
     9
    10   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I assume that if you put a carcass into the
    11        chilling room, its temperature drops pretty quickly to
    12        start with and then as it gets colder it slows again?
    13        A.  Yes.
    14
    15   Q.   The curve flattens out, and to get down from, say, three
    16        degrees to zero might take really quite a long time?
    17        A.  Exactly.
    18
    19   MR. MORRIS:  So, for McKeys batches they are basically moving
    20        through the plant pretty quickly, I mean, we are talking
         about, what, within 12 hours, are we, or 24 hours?  You
    22        said something about "held overnight".
    23        A.  Sorry, yes, that is the actual finished product,
    24        packaged, ready for shipping to McKeys.  It is not from the
    25        slaughterhouse all the way through.
    26
    27   Q.   How long does it take to get into that last room?
    28        A.  From?
    29
    30   Q.   From the time it is slaughtered?
    31        A.  Three to four days.
    32
    33   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  To get into the chilling room at the end?
    34        A.  Yes, the final product chilling.  The final product
    35        chiller, yes.
    36
    37   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, my old ears are struggling a bit!
    38
    39   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes, keep your voice up.  Let us just have a
    40        quick run through.  It comes out of the deboning room?
         A.  Yes.
    42
    43   Q.   Where precisely does it go then?
    44        A.  Then it goes over to our cold storage area.
    45
    46   Q.   Is it chilled there?
    47        A.  Yes, it is chilled all the way through.  It is chilled
    48        in the boning hall.  It is chilled in the area where it is
    49        marshalled into its bins.  It is chilled in the chiller.
    50 
    51   Q.   "Chilled" can mean just that the atmosphere is chilled, or 
    52        that you are going through the positive exercise of 
    53        chilling the meat, that is, reducing its temperature quite
    54        quickly.  Do you understand?
    55        A.  Yes, I do understand.
    56
    57   Q.   So when it goes from the boning hall, it goes where again,
    58        from the deboning?
    59        A.  It goes into our cold store, "cold store" as we call
    60        it.