An official spokesperson from Popeyes Chicken corporate office has responded to North Penn Now’s request for comment, following a viral video that surfaced over the weekend showing a four-legged animal being butchered in an employee-only area of their Hatfield Township location.

In response to our inquiry, Popeyes released the following statement:

“As soon as we saw the images, we called the restaurant owner to investigate and took immediate corrective action. The actions by the crew members showed incredibly poor judgement and are blatant violation of our established protocols. The franchisee has taken disciplinary action against employees involved and the restaurant closed temporarily for a deep and thorough cleaning and sanitization.

The statement comes on the heels of a now-viral video which made the rounds through Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat over the weekend, depicting a four-legged animal with a slit cut through its abdomen on a table in an employee-only area. The video, however, misidentified the animal as a canine, and misidentified the location as Lansdale, when it is actually in Hatfield Township.

According to a report from an inspector with the Montgomery County Department of Health, that animal was either a goat or a lamb, and it was being butchered for personal use.

(Editor's note: Viewer discretion is advised due to language and a gutted animal being visible.)

The inspector’s comments from the morning of Nov. 13 read:

Inspection conducted today upon receiving a customer related complaint. At time of inspection facility manager stated that on 11/13/19 a goat purchased from an approved supplier was being butchered in facility for employee personal use. Facility did provide paperwork that lamb was from an approved source at time of inspection. No evidence of lamb was observed in facility at time of inspection and all areas appeared to have been cleaned and sanitized. Facility was instructed that lamb cannot be butchered in facility for personal use of employees. Failure to comply may result in further legal actions.

Requests to the county regarding whether it was a goat or a lamb have gone unanswered at this time.

The Popeyes spokesperson wrapped up their comments by stating that they take incidents like this very seriously, and the safety of their their guests is of the utmost importance.

“The safety of our guests and team is always a priority for us, and we take any actions that are outside of our brand and operational standards very seriously,” said the Popeyes spokesperson. Popeyes, located at 1719 North Broad Street, has since reopened. Popeyes, located at 1719 North Broad Street, has since reopened.

See also:

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