Day 217 - 09 02 96 - Page 28

 
 

                                                                  DAY 217
 
                                                     MRS. HOVI, Examined:
 
 
 
     1
     2   Q.   When you say you had discussions with MAFF inspectors, was
     3        there an actual inspection while you were there?
     4        A.  No, inspection had been agreed for May, for mid-May,
     5        and that was agreed mid-April with me.  But I was not there
     6        any more when the inspection took place.
     7
     8   Q.   But when you say you discussed this with MAFF inspectors,
     9        where was it discussed then, on the telephone?
    10        A.  On the telephone, yes.  I discussed it with them
    11        several times during the course of my stay.
    12
    13   Q.   With a view to their inspection in May or what?
    14        A.  Partly things came up when they phoned me to set up the
    15        inspection date, and partly I consulted them on questions
    16        that, issues that I was concerned about, concerning mainly
    17        of the BSE certification and the carcass temperatures.  But
    18        while we discussed these issues, they often offered me
    19        advice on things that they had seen wrong in the past, and
    20        I obviously based a lot of my discussion on their previous
    21        reports that I had seen.
    22
    23   Q.   Yes.
    24        A.  So .....
    25
    26   MR. MORRIS:  35?
    27        A.  35, we can go on to 35.  As far as I am concerned, the
    28        cutting boards in the boning hall, there were a lot of worn
    29        out cutting boards.  I pointed that out to them and some of
    30        them were changed.  It is a procedure -- it is an on-going
    31        thing, cutting boards have to be changed.  This, obviously,
    32        was a minor point in my statement, but it has been taken up
    33        by Mr. Bone, and it often remains the task of the hygiene
    34        supervisor or the office of veterinary surgeon to prompt
    35        the boning hall to change the cutting boards.  That is, in
    36        my experience, that is the case.
    37
    38   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Do you know what Mr. Bone means in the very
    39        last line of that paragraph about boards being planed?
    40        I can see that ordinary wooden chopping blocks can be
    41        planed so that they do not have scratches or cuts in them,
    42        but you cannot plane a vinyl -----
    43        A.  I have never seen this happen.  I have never heard of
    44        vinyl boards being planed or not replaced; usually they are
    45        replaced with .....
    46
    47   Q.   Yes, I assume you either replace the board or you replace
    48        the vinyl covering?
    49        A.  Well, usually boards are -----
    50 
    51   Q.   There we are; you cannot help.  It is Mr. Bone's statement, 
    52        not yours? 
    53        A.  Yes.  Usually boards are made of vinyl throughout.
    54        They do not have just a vinyl covering.
    55
    56   Q.   Yes.  Very well.
    57        A.  Paragraph 36, page 20.  The sterilizing system in the
    58        boning hall was inadequate and it was admitted by the
    59        boning hall Supervisor, Gordon Cross, and by Jarrets, and
    60        plans had already made, on my initiative, plans had been
 
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