Day 114 - 04 Apr 95 - Page 19

     
     1        adopted.  Now, pithing is not being, well, it is being
     2        phased out because there are hygiene regulations.  It is
     3        not hygienic.  It is particularly suspect now because of
     4        BSE because, obviously, the brain is the part that you do
     5        not want to interfere with too much.  So, I have concerns
     6        at the moment that this question of inaccurate shots will
     7        actually become a worse problem for welfare than it was
     8        before.
     9
    10   Q.   On point 149, the last sentence on the page: "It is
    11        particularly important for species with thick skulls, e.g.
    12        bulls, bores and large sows, to use a pistol which is
    13        designed to provide a high volt velocity; simply using a
    14        more powerful cartridge on some captive bolt pistols may
    15        not achieve this objective".
    16
    17        What is your view on that?  Do you agree with that first?
    18        A.  I have seen it bounce off bores and there are some
    19        slaughterhouses economise by using inadequate bullets.
    20
    MR. JUSTICE BELL:  With captive bolts, stick to cattle because
    22        there is no suggestion the captive bolt is being used on
    23        pigs whose meat goes to McDonald's.
    24
    25   MR. MORRIS:  Yes, but in terms of the point about the velocity,
    26        it is not just the cartridge power, but the velocity seems
    27        to be what they are saying.  Do you agree with that?
    28        A.  It is the velocity and the weight behind it.  It is
    29        just that certain animals have very tough foreheads,
    30        I suppose like some people, and it just defeats the gun.
    31
    32        Perhaps I could just refer to your Lordship's comment; one
    33        has to bear in mind that there are always breeding animals,
    34        boars, old boars, and they are all connected with the
    35        process so at some stage you will have out of this -----
    36
    37   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Forget pigs with the captive bolt.
    38
    39   MR. MORRIS:  On page 40, point 161:  "Current legislation
    40        requires that all stunning instruments should be in proper
         repair.  Whilst we fully endorse this provision, we are not
    42        satisfied from our investigations that this requirement is
    43        adequately enforced.  In far too many cases, it was evident
    44        that equipment was neither being adequately maintained nor
    45        regularly checked to ensure its effective operation."
    46        What is your view on that?
    47        A.  It is still a problem.
    48
    49   Q.   Can I just you a general question about enforcement?  What
    50        is the prevailing culture around the whole slaughter 
    51        process in terms of people's attitude to regulations and to 
    52        enforcement? 
    53        A.  Because of reports like this and because of the changes
    54        that I have mentioned already, there are more official or
    55        the meat trade actually is complaining that there should be
    56        deregulation.  The Food Safety Act of 1990 introduced a
    57        large number of official surveyances primarily to do with
    58        hygiene.  The Richmond Committee also commented -- I think
    59        that was in 1990 or just before -- particularly on
    60        hygiene.  That meant there were more officials,