Day 100 - 09 Mar 95 - Page 36

     
     1        exception of bacon.  How is the bacon delivered?
     2        A.  Bacon comes chilled in atmosphere controlled pack.
     3
     4   Q.   What temperature would that be at?
     5        A.  Between two to four degrees Centigrade.
     6
     7   Q.   In fact, bacon would be accepted up to 4.4 degrees
     8        Centigrade, would that be right?
     9        A.  We allow a tolerance of plus or minus one on delivery,
    10        so we aim to store the product between two and four, but on
    11        delivery there is a tolerance of plus one degree.
    12
    13   Q.   It could be up to five?
    14        A.  Yes.
    15
    16   Q.   You were asked yesterday if you tell the suppliers what the
    17        maximum temperatures the products should be allowed to
    18        reach during processing so that proliferation of bacteria
    19        is kept to a minimum.  You said that you do make such a
    20        specification, but you did not actually give what the
         specification was, so could you give that?
    22        A.  Yes, I mean, we would insist that the product is kept
    23        outside of the growth, the accepted growth, range for
    24        bacteria which is, like I said, 6 to 63.  So, if you are
    25        talking about a chilled product, then we aim to keep that
    26        below 6.  So, we actually ourselves, for our own products
    27        in the restaurants, we set an even tighter limit but that
    28        is a McDonald's spec.
    29
    30   Q.   So your specification to suppliers is below six, is it, for
    31        processing?  They would not be processing it at over 63,
    32        would they?
    33        A.  Not unless you are cooking the product.  If you have a
    34        cooked product and you hold it, then you hold it above 63.
    35
    36   Q.   Are any of proper meat products supplied ready cooked?
    37        A.  The bacon is pasteurized but it is not really cooked.
    38
    39   Q.   How long have you known about the Oregon outbreak of food
    40        poisoning?
         A.  The Oregon outbreak of food poisoning?
    42
    43   Q.   The outbreak of food poisoning in the States in Michigan
    44        and Oregon where people who had eaten McDonald's food
    45        suffered food poisoning?
    46        A.  I cannot -- probably very recently.  I was not aware of
    47        that.  I heard about it yesterday.  I do not think I had
    48        heard about it before then.
    49
    50   Q.   So that was not something that was routinely brought to 
    51        your attention because of your responsibilities in this 
    52        area of food hygiene? 
    53        A.  Yes, I was not with the company in 1982, so I guess it
    54        was possibly a topic of conversation then.
    55
    56   Q.   Mr. Gomez Gonzalez said that the company in America had
    57        introduced tests for E.coli after that outbreak of food
    58        poisoning, I think he said, fairly soon after the incident,
    59        but they were not in place in this country when you started
    60        here?