Hyderabad: A viral video showing a Zomato food delivery man eating food from a parcel and sealing it again has left the city questioning how safe and hygienic the food delivery system is.
In the video, the man parks by the roadside, eats food from three packets and then reseals the delivery bag. It was later reported that the video was shot in Madurai, and the delivery man had been sacked.
The mood of those to order food delivered at home was reflected on social media. One user said on Twitter, “This is called the death of home cooking. Spending 30 mins in your own kitchen is better than waiting for delivery boys tested meals,” Another said, “Utterly shameful @Zomato. You want us to eat food only after your delivery boy tastes it (sic)?”
Asked about the incident, a Zomato representative said, “This incident only makes our commitment to fleet training, scheduling and process even stronger. We stand behind our extensive fleet who do the right thing across many hours of the day.” He called the incident a ‘human error’.
While most social media users expressed their wrath, a certain section also empathised with the man and discussed how he might be hungry because of low wages.
“Am I the only one who hopes Zomato isn’t too harsh on the delivery boy? Yes, what he did was wrong, but it was just one hungry human eating a bit of food. Surely, we can find the heart to forgive that (sic)” wrote Alifiya Khan. As another user suggested, “Look at the other side of the story before judging. It might be one of the rejected food parcel that goes back to delivery hub, which in-turn the delivery boys share and eat (sic)”. Another users said, “Spin this around Zomato, give some snacks to delivery boys everyday please! (sic)”
Zomato’s official reply said: “In our commitment towards mitigating any possibility of tampering with food, Zomato will soon introduce tamper-proof tapes, and other precautionary measures to ensure we safeguard any chances of tampering. Zomato has a zero tolerance policy for tampering of food.”
