On Monday, the Consumerist, a blog that’s a subsidiary of Consumer Reports, posted a hard-to-swallow photo of a Taco Bell employee holding a long stack of about 25 empty taco shells — while licking them with his long tongue fully exposed.
The posting — which the employee originally posted on his Facebook page, has since gone seriously viral. The situation is eerily reminiscent of a video from 2009 that a Domino’s Pizza employee posted of another worker putting pizza cheese into his nose and blowing mucous on a sandwich. The unfortunate message to consumers: Unhappy fast-food employees will do disgusting things to the food they sell.
To its credit, Taco Bell responded quickly.
“We have strict food and handling procedures and zero tolerance for any violations,” Taco Bell says in a statement. The company insists that the franchisee — whose name and location it hasn’t revealed — did not serve the taco shells to any customers. “They were used for training only and in the process of being thrown out,” the company says.
Taco Bell declined to specify whether the employees behind the photo were fired. “We will not tolerate this type of behavior, and particularly its impressions on our customers, fans, franchisees and team members.” The statement says, “We are working with the franchisee to take appropriate action against everyone involved.”
