Day 129 - 25 May 95 - Page 06

     
     1        then?
     2        A.  I believe there was a second one but I am not sure when
     3        it was.  Again that is something that Keith Kenny, I am
     4        sure, covered with you; it is more of the Quality Assurance
     5        Department's role working with Operations.
     6
     7   Q.   Cooking temperatures would be your department rather than
     8        Keith Kenny?
     9        A.  Yes.
    10
    11   Q.   We were told he was responsible for the products up to the
    12        back door?
    13        A.  Yes, Quality Assurance, because they work with the
    14        suppliers also have an input as what happens in
    15        Operations.  It has not been my Department's role, and it
    16        still is not now,  to specify the operational procedures
    17        for cooking products.  It is done in conjunction with QA
    18        and the suppliers.
    19
    20   Q.   It is right, is it not, that, following the Preston
         incident, a decision was taken to speed up the introduction
    22        of the clamshell grills to more of the stores?
    23        A.  I believe, after Preston, clamshells were put into the
    24        Preston restaurant, and that, yes, they certainly were
    25        introduced into the other restaurants through 1992 and
    26        1993.  Again, it was something at the time of Preston that
    27        had only just become available; it was very new to us.
    28
    29   Q.   Do you know when the first store got a clamshell grill?
    30        A.  I believe Preston was one of the first, it might not
    31        have been the very first but, as I say, I know it was very
    32        new at the time, that technology.
    33
    34   Q.   Just going back to the Department of Health, Sir Donald
    35        Acheson's advice; did McDonald's at that time have any
    36        discussion with the headquarters of the Department of
    37        Health, as opposed to Public Health Laboratory Service
    38        people in Preston?
    39        A.  Yes, as I said the Quality Assurance department liaised
    40        directly with the Department of Health, but I was not
         involved in that.
    42
    43   Q.   Who would that have been, Keith Kenny again?
    44        A.  Keith Kenny or somebody else from QA.
    45
    46   Q.   You started in the Quality Assurance Department in 1984; is
    47        that right?
    48        A.  I did, yes.
    49
    50   Q.   Presumably, at that time you had responsibility for food 
    51        safety? 
    52        A.  Well, going back to 1984, I do not think food safety 
    53        would have been recognised as a separate discipline, but,
    54        yes, it was an integral part of quality and, therefore,
    55        Quality Assurance, I suppose you could argue.
    56
    57   Q.   Did food safety become a separate discipline -- I think you
    58        were saying something about that Act being brought in?
    59        A.  The Food Safety Act came in in 1990.  Certainly, David
    60        Wignall's role was looked on as being a specific food