[DiamondSmiles]

Taco Bell Reacts Quickly to Employee's Gross Photo

Amy Langfield, CNBC
6 hours ago

Hopefully, not all of Taco Bell’s workers love the shells as much as it appears one of its California employees does.

The company Monday was reacting to a picture posted on Facebook that appears to show a Taco Bell employee licking a stack of taco shells.

“We’re currently dealing with it,” Cathy Marx, the manager of the Taco Bell in Ridgecrest., California, told CNBC in a brief interview. The restaurant currently has an, “A,” rating from the County of Kern Public Health Services Department.

A corporate spokesman also issued a statement about the picture.

“Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and team members, and we have strict food handling procedures and zero tolerance for any violations,” a company spokesman said in a statement emailed to CNBC. “When we learned of the situation we immediately contacted this restaurant's leadership and although we believe it is a prank and the food was not served to customers, we are conducting a full scale investigation and will be taking swift action against those involved.”

The company declined to offer any other details.

The picture was posted to Facebook by an account registered to “Jj O'Brien Nolan,” who lists an affiliation to Ridgecrest. It was posted on the Consumerist website after a reader saw it posted on Taco Bell’s Facebook page.

In 2007, Taco Bell was infamously in the spotlight as one of its KFC/Taco Bell restaurants in New York City’s Greenwich Village was taken over by about two dozen rats after the employees had gone home.

Clearly visible through the front windows, videos of their escapades went viral on the Internet. The location was shuttered by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and went out of business. [color="red]I've never heard of this department until now.[/color]

This picture below was posted to Facebook by an account registered to “Jj O'Brien Nolan.”

[Cthulhu]

Somebody is getting fired...

[kellyhound]

[DiamondSmiles]

He could have bought his own shells at the grocery store and indulged privately.

But, the dumb ass posted it on facebook!

[GregK]

Did he think that would end well?

[Cthulhu]

It is just losing a job a Taco Bell. Unless the Health Department fines him, or Taco Bell sues him. Most likely just a dumb kid being fired from a fast food place.

He can apply at McDonald's once the uproar dies down.

[DiamondSmiles]

Now we can worry about Taco Bell workers licking the shells

1 day ago

Whether you think a photo of a guy in a Taco Bell uniform licking a stack of taco shells is hilarious or disgusting may depend on whether you eat at Taco Bell — or on how good you are at telling yourself such a thing would never happen at any restaurant you frequent. Whoever posted this photo on Taco Bell's Facebook feed clearly falls in the, "disgusting," camp, "This sure says a lot about your employees, food treatment, and what they post on the internet," the poster wrote. One vocal commenter has rushed to the taco licker's defense, insisting the shells were destined for the trash bin, not public consumption. Taco Bell has yet to comment.

UPDATE: Taco Bell says the taco shells the Ridgecrest, California, franchise employee was shown licking in this photo were never intended to be served to the public. They were provided to workers for them to practice making Cool Ranch tacos in March and, "were in the process of being thrown out," when the photo was taken. However, Taco Bell says it has fired the worker pictured for violating food-handling procedures.