Day 099 - 08 Mar 95 - Page 16

     
     1        A.  Centigrade, correct.
     2
     3   Q.   Moving from chicken, if we may, to pork.  We will come to
     4        beef in a minute.  What particular organisms, if any, are
     5        you concerned about in relation to pork?
     6        A.  Again, Salmonella is a possibility in a raw meat
     7        product.  The point is that all these products are raw meat
     8        products and they are cooked at a later stage, so we will
     9        expect to find pathogenic bacteria in these products.
    10
    11   Q.   But the extent to which you find them may vary, may it not?
    12        A.  Correct, yes.
    13
    14   Q.   Moving to beef, what are the principal concerns with beef?
    15        A.  In terms of pathogenic bacteria?
    16
    17   Q.   Yes.
    18        A.  Well, the principal concern there really is the E.coli
    19        0157.
    20
    Q.   Why is it a principal concern?
    22        A.  Well, because it is a particularly nasty organism.
    23
    24   Q.   Is that number dependent for its effect in the same way
    25        that Salmonella is, for example?
    26        A.  Well, it is thought that it could cause disease at
    27        lower doses than Salmonella.
    28
    29   Q.   We have learned, I think, that Salmonella is what one
    30        perhaps might inaccurately call endemic in chicken?
    31        A.  Correct.
    32
    33   Q.   In the finished product, according to Dr. Pattison, it
    34        winds up in about 25 per cent of the samples taken?
    35        A.  That is correct.
    36
    37   Q.   What about the frequency of occurrence or discovery,
    38        I should say, of E.coli 0157?
    39        A.  In the beef E.coli 0157 is extremely rare.  We would
    40        not expect to find that in our product.
    41
    42   Q.   Is E.coli 0157 vulnerable to cooking?
    43        A.  Yes, it is.
    44
    45   Q.   Is Salmonella vulnerable to cooking?
    46        A.  Yes, all pathogenic bacteria are killed at cooking
    47        temperatures.
    48
    49   Q.   McKey's have had for some four or five years a specific
    50        test for E.coli 0157? 
    51        A.  Correct. 
    52 
    53   Q.   What is the reason for that?  It may be you have already
    54        really explained it, but I would like you to tell us what
    55        is the reason why they have a specific test for what is a
    56        comparatively rare organism?
    57        A.  The test is put in place really as a screen to see --
    58        initially, it was put in as a test as a screen to see what
    59        level we would be finding this organism in our product.
    60        Not a lot was known about the organism in 1990 when we