Day 098 - 07 Mar 95 - Page 26
1 Q. So there can be a certain amount of those in the meat and
2 it would be still be fine to use, so far as the MAFF were
3 concerned, but it is just if it went over that
4 limit ------
5 A. Yes, remembering that, of course, things like hormones
6 etc. are naturally occurring in the meat anyway.
7
8 MR. JUSTICE BELL: So the MRL, I assume, is something which they
9 think could not have got there by natural physiology?
10 A. Yes, I assume the same thing, sir.
11
12 MS. STEEL: Things like antibiotics, they test for some of
13 those, do they?
14 A. They do, yes.
15
16 Q. Is there an MRL for those?
17 A. Oh, yes. There is an MRL for everything on that list.
18
19 Q. But for the antibiotics, say, would the MRL be 0 or is it
20 likely to be, you know, you cannot go over a certain level?
21 A. It is a long list and these things are measured in
22 parts per billion. It is very, very, very minute,
23 infinitesimal amounts. I honestly could not tell you what
24 they are for each substance.
25
26 Q. But in terms of antibiotics, say, is it 0 across the board
27 or are there some where, you know, it is acceptable to have
28 a certain level?
29
30 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think Ms. Steel is suggesting an a chemical
31 or a compound which would not be found at unless you had
32 taken a certain medication, do you see? I do not know to
33 what extent they exist even, or whether some antibiotics
34 are, in fact, chemicals or compounds which you would find
35 in a few parts per billion. In any event, all that you are
36 being asked is whether some of the chemicals or substances,
37 whether some of the substances on the list are banned in
38 any quantity, however small, so that if you found one part
39 ---
40 A. Yes.
41
42 Q. -- per thousand billion, it would be, if you could test to
43 that degree -----
44 A. I could not honestly answer you whether anything as is
45 what they call like a zero tolerance, if you like -- in
46 other words, if it is there at all, then this meat is
47 unacceptable. From memory, most of them have a number or a
48 parts per billion figure which is -- .003 springs to mind,
49 or something like that, somewhere around that area.
50
51 MS. STEEL: How frequently do they do the tests?
52 A. I think they do the tests -- they collect samples on a
53 monthly basis, remembering that they will be going around
54 many meat processing plants taking the samples all the
55 time.
56
57 Q. But, say, from your plant it would be once a month or
58 something like that?
59 A. Yes, they come in, sort of, unannounced and just take
60 these things. I do not know. I could not honestly tell
