Day 099 - 08 Mar 95 - Page 20
1 November 7th, but this version July 1st 1996?
2 A. Yes, I have that.
3
4 Q. You have that?
5 A. Yes.
6
7 Q. In the middle of the page there is a passage headed
8 "Microbiological Guidelines", do you see that?
9 A. Yes.
10
11 Q. Are these guidelines which are set out here the same as
12 what you use in this country?
13 A. These were the guidelines that we would have initially
14 used when we started producing beef burgers in this
15 country.
16
17 Q. Have your microbiological guidelines changed at all in
18 relation to hamburgers?
19 A. This is still what McDonald's requires. McKey's -----
20
21 Q. We will look at McKey's in a minute. I am trying to trace
22 it through. This is still a McDonald's specification?
23 A. This is current specification.
24
25 Q. This tells us, does it not, that no more than 25 per cent
26 of frozen sample analysed on a monthly basis may exceed a
27 million per gramme.
28 A. Correct.
29
30 Q. Tell us, please, what does the million mean? What is it a
31 count of?
32 A. Number of organisms per gramme of meat.
33
34 Q. Number of organisms. Must we distinguish organisms from
35 colonies of organisms, if so, why and if not, why not?
36 A. There may be some confusion over colonies and
37 organisms.
38
39 Q. I can tell you there is in this particular head certainly;
40 could you explain that for us, please?
41 A. OK. When you take a sample for microbiological
42 analysis the actual bacteria on that sample are too small
43 to see. You cannot actually count them.
44
45 Q. You take a piece of meat to test?
46 A. Yes, you cannot see the bacteria on there. They are
47 too small to count. So, what you have to do is take them
48 away from there and grow them into colonies.
49
50 Q. Pause there. Will one bacterium make a colony?
51 A. Correct.
52
53 Q. It does need another bacterium, as it were, as humans
54 might?
55 A. No, one bacterium is enough.
56
57 Q. It divides, does it?
58 A. It divides, correct.
59
60 Q. If the conditions are right?
