Day 066 - 14 Dec 94 - Page 16

     
     1        chickens?
     2        A.  It applies to any food, whether it is vegetable or,
     3        from vegetable or animal origin.
     4
     5   Q.   A slight digression, Dr. Gonzales:  In the United States
     6        McDonald's chickens, I think, are supplied chiefly by two
     7        processors, Equity and Tysons; is that right?
     8        A.  That is correct.
     9
    10   Q.   Do they serve different parts of the country, those two
    11        organisations?
    12        A.  Yes, they do.
    13
    14   Q.   Do they both do precisely the same thing or do they do
    15        slightly different things?
    16        A.  They do produce the same products.  But there are --
    17        Tysons covers the entire supply chain from having the
    18        breeds that will produce the animals that will lay the eggs
    19        all the way down to our McNuggetts and McChicken patties.
    20
    Q.   So, they breed the chickens, they hatch them, they grow
    22        them, they slaughter them and then process them into
    23        McNuggetts and then they pass them on to you?
    24        A.  That is correct.  Equity, on the other hand, does not
    25        have that capability.  So, they start with the contract
    26        farming, so they have growers that will grow with the
    27        chickens and that they start from that point in the supply
    28        chain.
    29
    30   Q.   Yes, I see.  Where does McDonald's in the United States get
    31        its eggs for its breakfast items?
    32        A.  From a company called Cargill.
    33
    34   Q.   I ask you this -- again, so far as I am concerned, I need
    35        only general answers, Dr. Gonzales -- what does McDonald's
    36        do to ensure, as far as it can, that its customers do not
    37        contract food-borne diseases from the meals that they buy
    38        in the restaurants.  It may be a long answer.
    39        A.  Yes, we could spend the next couple of days .....
    40
    Q.   That is why I asked for a general answer.
    42        A.  But I can give you the major highlights ---
    43
    44   Q.   Yes, please.
    45        A. -- if you will.  Primarily, we look at three areas:
    46        Products, our products, our people and our processors.
    47        I will describe not in much detail each one of those.  We
    48        work, let us say -- let me start with people.  We have a
    49        very extensive training programme.  Start from the
    50        selection of people, throughout time we have developed a 
    51        very nice reputation around the world as a global company 
    52        as well as a training company.  We have in our corporate 
    53        offices Hamburger University where people from around the
    54        world, from store managers to our partners, to our
    55        suppliers, to our chief executive officers, go there for
    56        training; training in areas from management, from food
    57        safety, from just about any management course that is
    58        taught around the world.  We have a state of the art
    59        facilities there and it is a continuous training
    60        programme.