Day 103 - 14 Mar 95 - Page 20
1 that there is any general allegation about bone chips or
2 cartilage; even if there were, I wonder what relationship
3 it has to food poisoning, I really do.
4
5 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think it would help if you say where you
6 are going.
7
8 MR. MORRIS: First of all, it has been accepted that the main
9 cause of complaints are objects in chicken, bones,
10 cartilage, whatever. Secondly, Mr. Kenny said that the
11 existence of those kinds of things in a product would
12 affect the cooking right through on the product, and what
13 is more -----
14
15 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I understand all this, but you have evidence
16 in relation to some bones in food. I will have to consider
17 how widespread, if at all, it is when it gets to the
18 customer. You have evidence about checks on the finished
19 products for bones. I really wonder how much it helps
20 spending more than just a minute or two on the extent to
21 which there is bone in the raw meat when it arrives at the
22 Orleon factory.
23
24 Can I use it as an illustration, really, for your
25 consideration, not just because it saves time but it saves
26 you ending up at the end of the day with an awful lot of
27 material which may not be of particular use to you. We are
28 in a food poisoning section and what is poisoned, if at
29 all, is the customer. So, the nearer you are to the
30 customer with your evidence, the more relevant it is. That
31 is not to say when you get some distance away it has no
32 relevance at all, but it begins to fade in strength so bear
33 that in mind.
34
35 MR. MORRIS: The problem we face -- I accept what you say -- is
36 that the leaflet is very specific on what it says, but
37 McDonald's have chosen to sue and -----
38
39 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am not stopping you on that. I am just
40 saying when you got evidence, some evidence, as to how it
41 reaches the customer, when you have evidence as to checks
42 of the processed food as it leaves the factory, I really do
43 want you to consider how much time is justified on thinking
44 about bones in the raw meat.
45
46 I do not think I have given anything away if I did not say
47 that, bearing in mind it is chicken bones which I have
48 always understood to be rather susceptible to splintering
49 -- hence the "do not give a chicken bone to a dog" rule --
50 it would surprise me if there were not a fair number of
51 bits of bone in the raw meat. What you are more interested
52 in is its state when it gets to the customer.
53
54 MR. MORRIS: Yes, and the X-ray. (To the witness): You do get
55 of course quite a few chicken bones found in the final
56 finished product, do you not? I am talking about actually
57 from customers giving the product back and complaining?
58 A. We do get reports of that, yes.
59
60 Q. The company accepts they are -- Mr. Kenny, for example,
