Day 100 - 09 Mar 95 - Page 23

     
     1   Q.   What were the reasons that the burger was under-cooked
     2        then?
     3        A.  There was no positive conclusion.  We could not say
     4        hand on heart what caused it; there could have been a
     5        number of reasons.  I am trying to recollect what was said
     6        on the day.  One of the problems with meat is a possibility
     7        of dehydration.  If it was not placed totally correctly on
     8        the grill, there is a possibility that it may have been
     9        under-cooked.  I forget exactly what the investigations led
    10        us to think was the most likely source.  I can find out for
    11        you, but I cannot remember, I am sorry.
    12
    13   Q.   The incident with the chicken in Burnley, can you tell us a
    14        bit more about that, about the investigation into that?
    15        A.  Yes.  The most likely cause, I think, of the
    16        under-cooking there, the Chicken McNuggets are cooked in a
    17        basket in a fryer and they are timed by a computer which is
    18        operated by the person at that particular chicken station.
    19        What was thought to be the case was that two -- it is quite
    20        complicated actually -- two baskets of chicken were put
         down in the same vat but at different times.  Basically,
    22        the wrong one was removed at the wrong time.
    23
    24   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Last in, first out, as it were?
    25        A.  Yes.
    26
    27   MS. STEEL:  How many McNuggets would be in each basket?
    28        A.  You can get a full bag of Nuggets in a basket, so you
    29        can get up to 50, 52 Nuggets in a basket.  That is the
    30        maximum.
    31
    32   Q.   Would that be pretty average for that many to be cooked at
    33        one go?
    34        A.  I think the Burnley restaurant was a pretty quiet
    35        restaurant, to my recollection, so they would normally cook
    36        half baskets or quarter baskets.
    37
    38   Q.   If they had two baskets on the go at the same time, would
    39        that indicate that there was quite a bit of demand at that
    40        time?
         A.  Yes, I think it was during a lunch-time period, so
    42        maybe the amount that was put down in the first basket was
    43        not enough and they had to put another basket down.
    44
    45   Q.   Was there just one complaint about this under-cooked
    46        McNuggets, that was just one customer complaint, was it?
    47        A.  As far as I am aware, that was the only complaint that
    48        the customer took it to the Environmental Health
    49        Department, and it was the Environmental Health Department
    50        that brought the complaint to our attention. 
    51 
    52   Q.   You did not appeal against that decision? 
    53        A.  The decision was made in favour of McDonald's.  Again
    54        we proved that we had taken all reasonable precautions and
    55        shown all due diligence.
    56
    57   MR. RAMPTON:  Your Lordship will remember the question was:
    58        "What cases do you remember that were in court", it was
    59        not a question about -----
    60