Man Sues Grubhub and Jersey Mike's After Finding Dentures in His Sandwich
Fernando Rodriguez ordered a Jersey Mike's sandwich through Grubhub. What he allegedly got back included someone else's dentures.
Rodriguez filed a civil complaint May 28 in Middlesex County, New Jersey, naming both Grubhub and Jersey Mike's as defendants. According to the lawsuit, his order arrived at his home in Bayville on April 27, 2025, appearing properly packaged and sealed with tape. But when he opened it and started eating, he allegedly found dentures embedded inside the sandwich.
"The presence of dentures inside the food rendered the food contaminated, unsafe, adulterated, and unfit for human consumption," the lawsuit states. Rodriguez claims he experienced "extreme shock, disgust, emotional distress, nausea, loss of appetite, and physical revulsion" as a result.
Grubhub responded with a statement confirming the driver involved is no longer contracted to deliver for the platform. "We were troubled by this report, as it doesn't reflect the high standard of service our customers expect," the company said. Jersey Mike's has not yet responded to requests for comment.
How the Lawsuit Says This Happened
The complaint alleges the Grubhub driver "opened, tampered with, handled, transported, and/or otherwise interfered with the food packaging and contents in an unsafe and unsanitary manner" during delivery — and that the driver's own dentures ended up embedded in the sandwich as a result.
"A reasonable food delivery driver would recognize that opening sealed food packaging and handling food in an unsanitary manner creates a foreseeable risk of contamination and harm to the consumer," the lawsuit argues.
Rodriguez's attorneys are pursuing claims against both companies on different grounds. Against Grubhub, the suit alleges the company fails to properly screen, supervise, train, or monitor its delivery drivers. Against Jersey Mike's, it argues the chain should have packaged the sandwich in a way that was genuinely tamper-resistant rather than just appearing sealed. Rodriguez is demanding a jury trial.
How Something Like This Actually Gets Prevented
This case lands right at the center of a structural weak point in food delivery that most customers never think about until something goes wrong — the gap between when a restaurant hands off an order and when it actually reaches the customer's door.
Tamper-evident packaging exists specifically to close that gap, and it's becoming more common across the delivery industry, though adoption is inconsistent. The most effective versions use a tamper-evident seal — a sticker or strip that visibly tears or shows a void pattern if removed, making it obvious to the customer whether the bag was opened after leaving the restaurant. Tape, which is what Rodriguez's order reportedly had, offers far weaker protection because it can be removed and reapplied without leaving an obvious sign of tampering. That distinction matters enormously in a case like this — proper tamper-evident packaging would have either prevented the interference entirely or made it immediately obvious to Rodriguez before he ever took a bite.
Some delivery platforms have started requiring restaurant partners to use sealed bags with one-time tamper stickers, and a few have piloted photo-verification steps where drivers must photograph the sealed order before and after pickup. But none of this is universally mandated across the industry, and enforcement largely depends on individual restaurant partners choosing to adopt it.
On the driver screening side, background checks for gig delivery platforms are typically limited to criminal history checks at the point of onboarding, with little to no ongoing monitoring once someone is approved to drive. Unlike traditional restaurant employees who work under direct supervision in a kitchen, delivery drivers operate largely unsupervised between pickup and drop-off — which is exactly the gap plaintiffs' attorneys in cases like this one tend to focus on.
For consumers, the practical takeaway is to actually inspect delivery packaging before eating — checking for a tamper-evident seal rather than just tape, and reporting anything that looks like it may have been opened and resealed before taking a single bite. It's not a guarantee, but it's the only real check most customers have control over once the food has left the restaurant.
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