Day 217 - 09 02 96 - Page 66

 
 

                                                                  DAY 217
 
 
 
 
 
     1        cooler particularly in a chiller like their, the packing
     2        chiller which was extremely cold, much colder than the meat
     3        chillers, and also the velocity was very high in those
     4        chillers.
     5
     6   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You did not actually ever measure the
     7        temperature of the McKey octabin meat, did you?  You told
     8        me that last time.
     9        A.  Yes, I find it totally useless to do measurements in
    10        octabins because they can be extremely misleading, unless
    11        you use a boring machine that reaches inside.
    12
    13   MR. RAMPTON:  Which you say McKeys does?
    14        A.  I would imagine that they do.
    15
    16   Q.   It is transported into a chilled lorry, is it not?
    17        A.  Yes, that is right.
    18
    19   Q.   If McKey found on arrival that it was significantly above
    20        its specification, they would reject it?
    21        A.  I would imagine so, I would hope so.
    22
    23   Q.   Then you see the next one -- go backwards, please, because
    24        they are chronologically in reverse order -- to 103.  By
    25        now you have arrived, it is 7th April.  The comparative
    26        temperatures are nought, nought and then a row of figures
    27        up to five.  That, I can tell you, is a Thursday.  Then if
    28        you go back to 102, which I think is also while you were
    29        there, I cannot remember if that was the week you were
    30        missing, which is 14th April 1994, similar sorts of
    31        figures, again it is a Thursday.  Would you accept,
    32        Mrs. Hovi, that for the vast generality of the meat
    33        supplied by Jarret to McKey the temperatures were spot on
    34        the specification?  They were below 7 degrees all the way
    35        through, from chiller to boning room, to packaging, to
    36        despatch, to arrival?
    37        A.  Well, as I have said earlier, that was not my
    38        experience.  I experienced something rather different when
    39        I did measurements but, as I also said, I did not measure
    40        the temperatures in octabins because I do find it
    41        scientifically completely unnecessary and misleading.
    42
    43   Q.   This is something we can agree on.  The reason it matters
    44        is, as you said, I think, a moment ago, that any
    45        contamination which may have occurred at an earlier stage
    46        will not proliferate?  It will not be killed but it
    47        will  -----
    48        A.  It will not proliferate under 7 degrees, no.
    49
    50   MS. STEEL:   Can I say something briefly, which is that I am a 
    51        bit concerned about the McKeys specification being 7 
    52        because I thought I had a recollection that it was 4.  I 
    53        mean, I have not reread through everything, but several of
    54        my pages of this document are marked where the temperatures
    55        is over 4 to the pack temperature.  So just before it is
    56        taken as cast iron that that is McKeys specification -----
    57
    58   MR. RAMPTON:  Quite right.  I did not check that and if it is 4,
    59        it is 4, but the point remains the same.  Mrs. Hovi cannot
    60        be expected to know what the McKey specification is.  It as
 
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