Day 233 - 26 03 96 - Page 18

 
 

                                                                  DAY 233
 
                                                  HOWARD LYMAN, Examined:
 
 
 
     1
     2   Q.   And you stand by what you said there?
     3        A.  Yes.
     4
     5   Q.   Right.  Thank you.
     6
     7   MR. MORRIS:  I am just going to ask one question about what you
     8        dealt with before.  Are there regulations governing
     9        production methods, chemicals used, animal welfare, on
    10        farms throughout the United States?
    11        A.  Regulations on animal welfare are zero.  There are
    12        regulations on chemicals that are banned.  There are
    13        suggested regulations in the use of chemicals which, in my
    14        experiences, are totally ignored by the industry.  Even the
    15        chemicals that are banned in many cases are available if a
    16        person wants to violate that.  The check on that is almost
    17        totally non-existent.
    18
    19   Q.   Going back a page in the statement:  "Labeling of Meat.
    20        The meat distribution system in place today makes it almost
    21        impossible to trace the origin of meat sold at the retail
    22        level in most cases.  The outbreak of E.Coli 0157 H7
    23        recently in the State of Washington" -- that was not
    24        McDonald's; that was Jack-in-the-box?
    25        A.  Jack-in-the-box.
    26
    27   Q.   "....showed clearly that even with the resources of the
    28        Federal Government the trail from the retail market to the
    29        point of production is impossible to follow.  The important
    30        information learned was that the majority of the meat that
    31        was used by this breaking plant was imported.
    32
    33        "When meat is imported into this country, it immediately
    34        becomes part of the domestic supply and is
    35        indistinguishable from home-grown.  This problem is further
    36        complicated in the case of ground meat.  The source of this
    37        product is many different trimming and mixing operations
    38        before ending in the final product.  Ground meat requires
    39        lean meat to be mixed with the abundance of fat that we
    40        produce because of feeding grain to the majority of our
    41        feedlot animals.  This lean meat comes from domestic cull
    42        dairy cows and imported grass fed beef.
    43
    44        "North America imports about one-third of all the beef
    45        exports in the world.  After it clears any border
    46        inspection, it is treated with the same label as domestic
    47        production and in most cases even the meat handlers could
    48        not identify where the product was produced."
    49
    50        Then going on to your second statement -- do you stand by 
    51        that? 
    52        A.  Yes. 
    53
    54   Q.   Yes.  Going on to your second statement, which was
    55        February 24th, 1996.  "This is a supplementary
    56        statement...."
    57
    58   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, may I please say something?  If we are
    59        going straight on to read this, it may be best -- may I
    60        make the suggestion -- since it is quite evident -- it is
 
                                      18