Day 095 - 02 Mar 95 - Page 12
1 a long time to change a single regulation. It takes years
2 to change that.
3
4 Q. Having federal inspectors in a plant would not prevent the
5 company from making improvements, would it? Federal
6 inspectors are not going to say: "Stop that, we do not
7 want you to make this place any better"?
8 A. That is correct. But what it does motivate is the
9 companies not to do it. If they do not have to do it, they
10 do not have to do it. If you push them for improvements,
11 there is the motivation. Those are the suppliers that we
12 look for.
13
14 Q. The fact is, is it not, that these companies that supply
15 you, they do not like the independent inspection because it
16 is more likely to condemn meat and cut the company's
17 profits?
18 A. You are totally -----
19
20 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Give a short answer to that.
21 A. You are totally wrong. That is not the case. If there
22 is a need, we condemn. If we let a diseased animal go
23 through our system, it is going to result in somebody
24 getting sick. If that person gets sick, especially in the
25 United States, you are going to be sued. That is your
26 business that you are going to lose. Are we going to take
27 the risk -- absolutely not.
28
29 MR. MORRIS: But the inspectors have a responsibility for the
30 whole country, do they not, every company; is that correct?
31 A. They are -- the entire system? Yes. The inspectors
32 are assigned to different and they move around the country.
33
34 Q. So they do not care one bit about an individual company,
35 whether it is better than another company, or makes more
36 profits, or whatever. Their concern is to improve the
37 standards across the board; is that correct?
38 A. That is correct. They have not -- if you let me finish
39 -- they do not have any concerns about profits. They do
40 not have any concerns about productivity or volume. Their
41 concern, their responsibility, is to assure the
42 wholesomeness of meat; that is their intent, their own
43 concern.
44
45 Q. So, if there is a problem affecting the whole industry,
46 yes, for example -- we have talked about some -- an
47 individual company may not be motivated to change a
48 procedure -----
49
50 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am going to stop there because this is
51 argument which you can present to me. You will be able to
52 present it to me when I have heard all the evidence one way
53 or the other.
54
55 MR. MORRIS: It is just that there have been so many comments
56 repeatedly saying: "We have to improve because customers
57 will not buy our products".
58
59 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, we have gone through it more than once
60 now. You have your opportunity to comment at the end of
