Day 101 - 10 Mar 95 - Page 39

     
     1        person whose sole function it is to monitor the operations
     2        in the slaughterhouses that supply the beef to them.  This
     3        is a full-time job.  Now, he visits those facilities at
     4        least twice a year.  He visits them announced and
     5        unannounced and he completes quite a detailed audit form
     6        every time he visits there.  This includes a number of
     7        welfare issues.
     8
     9   Q.   Those are the audit forms we have seen?
    10        A.  Those are the audit forms McKey's do.  We would monitor
    11        what they do with those forms.  Obviously they keep them on
    12        file in their Head Office at Milton Keynes where the guy is
    13        based, and we check those forms.
    14
    15   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I think part of what Ms. Steel is getting at
    16        is one might read that page and think McDonald's themselves
    17        actually check on the animals and the way they are being
    18        reared.  I do not want to pre-empt her cross-examination,
    19        but one can read what is next to the animal welfare
    20        husbandry statement box as well.
         A.  We certainly check on the welfare of the birds at Sun
    22        Valley.  I have been to the abattoirs as well.  As we
    23        mentioned earlier, I have been to the hen houses at our egg
    24        suppliers.  We do keep an eye on what is happening. We have
    25        to trust our suppliers.  One of the things we do is we work
    26        with our suppliers we consider to be extremely trustworthy,
    27        and we have to take their word for a lot of these issues,
    28        but we do talk to them about it and we monitor their
    29        progress.
    30
    31   MS. STEEL:  Have you ever asked them to stock the birds for
    32        example less densely?
    33        A.  Personally I have not asked them that, no.
    34
    35   Q.   Your department has not asked them to do that?
    36        A.  I do not know the answer.
    37
    38   Q.   What monitoring do you do in terms of agro-chemical
    39        policies?
    40        A.  The agro-chemical policies really relate not to the
         feed for the animals, but really to the produce that we
    42        sell, because again it is relating directly to our primary
    43        supplier in the chain.  I keep coming back to that.  We are
    44        talking about Howard Long, they are our produce supplier.
    45        Now they test quite extensively for agro-chemical
    46        residues.  We also employ a consultant on our behalf to
    47        liaise with specifically HLI, but also any other suppliers,
    48        I am talking now of potatoes we use for our Mac fries, to
    49        monitor their progress on agro-chemicals and to develop
    50        policies to continually strive to reduce the number of 
    51        agro-chemicals they use in their systems. 
    52 
    53   Q.   What about agro-chemical policies in terms of the companies
    54        supplying meat products?
    55        A.  I do not know what those are I am afraid.  This
    56        specific passage relates to McDonald's suppliers and I can
    57        only really talk to you about our primary suppliers.
    58
    59   Q.   Have you got any animal welfare specifications?
    60        A.  Our finished product specifications would not include