The video, which was filmed in Madurai in southern India, shows the delivery man, who is wearing a T-shirt from popular Indian food delivery app Zomato, eating food out of boxed orders then resealing them and putting them back into a delivery bag.
Initially met with disgust, anger and ridicule, the video was watched thousands of times.
The social reactions prompted Zomato, India's biggest food delivery company, to react with a statement that they took "food tampering very seriously".
"We have spoken to him at length and while we understand that this was a human error in judgement, we have taken him off our platform," the company added.
However, with the news that Zomato had decided to terminate the employment of the unidentified delivery man, the conversation began to turn more sympathetic.
Many pointed to long work hours, difficult conditions and poor pay as serious issues faced by delivery employees.
The Zomato delivery chap eating from various orders is depressing. It's what happens when you make people who can't afford a square meal, keep handling mountains of food. All food deliveries should offer 1-2 square meals a day for their delivery people. It's only fair. Great CSR.
Some delivery people the BBC spoke to described similar problems.
"Earlier we used to get 60 rupees [85 cents] per delivery. Then from 60 it became 40. Still I continued because I had to educate my children. Now the company is planning to make it 30 rupees per delivery. But I have expenses - petrol is expensive, I have children as well. Tell me what should I do?" one delivery person, who did not want to be identified, told the BBC.
Another said "I am the sole bread earner in my family. In case I have an accident, I don't have an insurance policy. The company doesn't give us insurance either. If there is a mishap then I will be in trouble. The company should think about that."
App-based delivery is a relatively new business in India, but has seen huge levels of growth in a short time.
Apart from food, Indians can now also order things like groceries and even furniture to be delivered to their homes. Retail delivery giants like Amazon and Flipkart, which was recently acquired by Walmart, also employ tens of thousands of people to act as delivery staff.
More about: India
