Online food delivery giant Zomato had an unusually bad day today. As India woke up and got on Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram, a video greeted them. A Zomato delivery boy - riders, as the company calls them - was caught on camera opening food packs meant for delivery and eating out of them. The man eats from one pack, levels the food so it looks untouched, and seals the pack back. He then goes on to do the same thing with two other parcels.

Finally, he tapes the packs shut and takes off to deliver these packs.

Soon after the video went viral, the food ordering giant apologised on social media.

VIRAL VIDEO: Zomato delivery boy opens food pack, eats, seals it back. Company says sorry

In its apology post, Zomato said that the delivery partner had been 'taken off' the platform, "We take these kinds of reports extremely seriously and upon thorough investigation, we've found that the video was shot in Madurai. The person in the video happened to be a delivery partner on our fleet. We have spoken to him at length - and while we understand that this was a human error in judgment, we have taken him off our platform."

After the video went viral, Twitter began baying for the person's blood.

This is what happens when you use coupon codes all the time. Watch till end. pic.twitter.com/KG5y9wUoNk Godman Chikna (@Madan_Chikna) December 10, 2018

But after Zomato said that they had sacked him, some people felt that the punishment was too harsh given that the delivery boys work really hard and hunger is beyond a human's control.

They've removed him. Feel very bad for this @ZomatoIN delivery guy :( pic.twitter.com/c3vDBri7wJ Zoo Bear (@zoo_bear) December 11, 2018

Though he ve done a bad thing, I somehow feel he ate because he was hungry.. Poor man Schiffskapitän (@damn_barbarian) December 11, 2018

It was all over social media. Now poor https://t.co/B3XqXVifKU deemed a criminal. What he did was totally wrong but trolling him across all social media would cost him.dearly. No one would employ him knowing his background at Zomato VelahIndian (@VelahIndian) December 11, 2018

If people have to steal food, there is some problem with our society. I feel sorry for him. Nfuel (@nfuel900) December 11, 2018

What he did is unethical & bad. But probably termination is severe, might have given a warning or suspension for couple days. The Legend (@TheLegendChap) December 11, 2018

For some reason my heart breaks every time I see the video and this man. I hope n pray he gets a job somewhere n leave this stigma behind him. Aysha Suzana (@AyshaSuzana) December 11, 2018

Removing him is really bad...He broke the trust between Customers and operators..But he must be hungry in that point when it comes to food and life one must show mercy RAG@123 (@justforfun_rag) December 11, 2018

@LabourMinistry@ZomatoIN What you need to take seriously is not food tampering, but a proper lunch/lunch timings for the delivery guys.

And for all those who are so bothered about your food being tampered, Please also understand it a human being running to feed us

#Zomato madhanbabu (@bmadhanbabu) December 10, 2018

Maybe a return or something? Or his own meal? Not sure why everyone is jumping to conclusions just coz he is a delivery guy. I wouldn't get angry even if he really ate a customer's.. I'd just warn and give him more food. A hungry person eating is no crime! Nibras Adambawa (@NibrasAdambawa) December 10, 2018

Others, however, were of the opinion that duty is duty and it was wrong on part of the delivery person to have eaten out of the boxed orders.

ppl feeling bad for this guy what about the household that took the parcel from him?? Sunil Shenoy (@sunil_shenoy) December 11, 2018

I feel sorry for the customer who had to eat his leftover Over dose (@Freakshowzinc) December 11, 2018

Dont feel sad....These guys earn pretty well and also get tipped on deliveries which is enough for 3 good meals a day. Ajay Kapps (@ajkapps) December 11, 2018

Some also said that Zomato should have given him a second chance instead of firing him straightaway.

To be honest, playing with ones trust is utterly bad. I hope he will take a lesson from this and emerge as a good person. I think @Zomato @zomatocare @ZomatoIN should take this person back. A person learning from mistakes is a good asset. India_Dreamer (@mohammadanwar) December 11, 2018

In its apology post, Zomato wrote, "Last night, we came across a video of a delivery executive in a Zomato T-shirt, carrying a Zomato delivery bag, eating food out of boxed orders and replacing each one after resealing them, back into the delivery bag. The video suggests that he consumed some of the food meant for delivery to users, on his way to the drop points."

We take food tampering very seriously.



For more details: https://t.co/cHuLX1Bs4n Zomato India (@ZomatoIN) December 10, 2018

Zomato also called this incident a 'highly unusual and a rare case', "We would like to iterate that given our multiple communication channels with users, who expect the highest standards from Zomato and highlight the smallest of deviations to us as soon as they receive their orders, this is highly unusual and a rare case."

Zomato is the leader in the food delivery market in India. In October this year, CEO Deepinder Goyal wrote in a blog post that they had reached 21 million orders per month in the country.

"At the beginning of 2018, we were at 3.5 million orders a month. With 21 million orders per month, as far as we know, we are now the market leader in the food ordering space in India," Goyal wrote.

So with 21 million orders per month on Zomato, goes without saying, a lot of users subscribe to the app. And thus, the video that went viral this morning, hit a lot of people directly... Zomato is a trusted platform after all. Their action unfair or not, Zomato sure has a lot of questions to answer after the viral video.

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