Day 100 - 09 Mar 95 - Page 32

     
     1        all.  Do you not think in the light of the Public Health
     2        Laboratory Service report that is a completely
     3        irresponsible statement to put out even if the evidence was
     4        not conclusive, in your opinion?
     5
     6   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  There is a lot of comment in that.  Why do
     7        you not just ask him if he thinks that is a fair summary of
     8        the situation.
     9
    10   MR. MORRIS:  Would you say that was a fair summary of the
    11        situation, that there has never been any evidence to
    12        demonstrate that McDonald's was the cause of the Preston
    13        outbreak in the light of all the questions -----
    14        A.  I stand by what I said this morning.  I do not think
    15        the evidence is conclusive.
    16
    17   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That is different to what is said there, is
    18        it not?
    19        A.  It is different wording to what it says there, yes.
    20
    MR. MORRIS:  I will move on.
    22
    23   MS. STEEL:   Is it right that within the last year the problem
    24        of under-cooking of chicken is something that has been gone
    25        into in quite some depth in McDonald's?
    26        A.  Yes, it is a subject that has received a lot of our
    27        attention, yes.
    28
    29   Q.   Andrew Taylor has circulated a memo regarding chicken
    30        integrity; is that right?
    31        A.  I think he did, yes.
    32
    33   Q.   Do you know whether there was more than one of those or
    34        just the one?
    35        A.  I can certainly recall one of them, yes.
    36
    37   Q.   What do you remember about that memo?
    38        A.  I think the main purpose of the memo was to focus the
    39        restaurant, the restaurant's manager's attention on the
    40        potential hazards of under-cooking chicken products, and
         the steps that they have to take to ensure that that does
    42        not happen.
    43
    44   Q.   That is something that has arisen because of problems with
    45        the under-cooking of chicken?
    46        A.  We have had a couple of court cases that you have
    47        mentioned.  There was a lot of attention within the company
    48        on beef integrity, and it was around about the time of an
    49        E.coli scare in the US, and the company had focused a lot
    50        of attention on ensuring that our beef products were being 
    51        cooked properly.  So, when I say "E.coli scare in the US", 
    52        it is not attributed McDonald's; it was a completely 
    53        separate issue.
    54
    55   Q.   That was the Jack-in-the-box one?
    56        A.  That was the Jack-in-the-box one.  We thought it was
    57        diligent to send out a memo ensuring that these managers do
    58        not divert all their attention on to beef and that they are
    59        still aware of the potential hazards with chicken.
    60