Day 067 - 15 Dec 94 - Page 18
1 for that.
2
3 Q. So there is no way that you can actually check on where
4 your beef is coming from? You have to take the word of
5 your suppliers?
6 A. Can you be more specific? I will give you an example
7 in Germany.
8
9 Q. In the USA?
10 A. In the USA, no. We do not have that capability nor
11 does anybody else in the US have that capability of tracing
12 back the source of the meat back to the farm.
13
14 Q. Right.
15 A. And under the conditions in which the animal, the meat
16 is being processed at this time, we spend a lot of efforts
17 and resources trying to find an answer so we can have that
18 capability, but we do not have it at the current time.
19
20 Q. Has that been the situation for as long as you are aware?
21 A. That has been the situation in the industry since it
22 was first evolved.
23
24 Q. The meat industry, the beef industry?
25 A. That is correct.
26
27 Q. What about welfare audits for the rest of the world's
28 farms?
29 A. In some of the countries, yes. UK, we are here in the
30 UK, yes, our suppliers have visited.
31
32 Q. We heard from Mr. Oakley about that, so if you leave aside
33 the UK for the moment. What about other countries?
34 A. We have 72 countries. You will find variation. We
35 operate in 72 countries today. You will find variations in
36 those form, the way in which we have the capability of
37 doing the audits. In countries where there is, there are
38 similar, the industry is similar to the United States, it
39 is not technologically or economically possible to have
40 that capability.
41
42 Q. When you say "similar" to the US, what do you mean by that?
43 A. Similar where there is a -- there are many countries
44 like the US. Let me see if I can give you a better idea of
45 the US beef industry. The USA is a large country, as you
46 are well aware of. There are literally hundreds of
47 thousands of farms that will raise cattle, from a lawyer
48 who has a country house and likes to have a couple of cows
49 in the backyard just so that he can feel he is out there
50 with nature, all the way to very extensive production
51 areas. There are thousands and thousands of those people.
52 That cattle will go to auctions, that cattle will then be
53 going to slaughterhouses, and it is not feasible and it is
54 not possible at the present time to trace from every single
55 -- that animal from every single place that it came from.
56
57 Although the US DA visit us, every single farm, it is part
58 of the regulations, that is part of their job, but to trace
59 it back to the farm is not possible, and there are many
60 countries in this world whose industry is very similar to
