I tend towards germophobia at the best of times, but this picture of an unknown Taco Bell employee licking a stack of taco shells is just the latest thing that makes me never want to eat at a restaurant again.
Taco Bell has not yet responded to the picture, which has been flying around Facebook and the internet today. Personally, I suspect that the employee was doing it as a goof, and that the shells were destined for the trash anyway. (That is what I choose to believe at this point, at any rate.) It's not like I ever eat at Taco Bell, but the problem is that these kind of shenanigans are everywhere.
I recently watched an episode of Kitchen Nightmares that was, well, a nightmare. I watched it because it featured a somewhat local restaurant (Prohibition Gastropub, nee Prohibition Grille in Everett, WA). Turns out the restaurant's food safety practices were so lax that Gordon Ramsey took the unheard-of step of closing the restaurant as diners were in the middle of eating dinner. He was that worried about someone getting sick.
The real miracle is that people don't get sick more often. I'm sure that little restaurant in Everett is not the first - nor will it be the last - to serve its customers week-old oysters, or store raw meat on the shelf above the cooked meat.
And that's the heart of the problem right there. A level of trust is required, when you let a complete stranger cook your food for you, unseen. Frankly, there are times when I just do not feel trusting.
These restaurants have all passed health inspection. It makes me wonder if Washington should adopt Los Angeles' model of posting the inspection grade on the front door of the restaurant. But has that system even made a difference in California? Or is it just another meaningless gesture that does little beyond making people feel better about their choices?\
Image courtesy Taco Bell Facebook account
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