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The vice president of Campbell Soup allegedly insulted the food company’s products and customers in a secret recording.
Former employee Robert Garza allegedly recorded Martin Bally saying the company’s canned soup and other lines are for ‘poor people’.
Garza filed a lawsuit in the US against Campbell’s on Thursday and released an hour and 15 minute-long audio clip.
In the clip, a speaker identified as Bally said: ‘I don’t buy f***ing Campbell’s products barely any more. It’s unhealthy.
‘Now that I know what the f**k is in it. Even a can of soup, I look at it… bioengineered meat.
‘I don’t want to eat a f***ing piece of chicken that came from a 3D printer. Do you?
‘We have s**t for f***ing poor people. Who buys our s**t?
‘F***ing Indians don’t know a f***ing thing. Like they couldn’t think for their f***ing selves? You dumb f**k.’
Bally, who was also the chief information security officer, has been placed on temporary leave as Campbell’s conducts an investigation.
What is bioengineered meat?
Bioengineered foods can be sold in the US – but these products must be labelled as such.
Bioengineered meat is real meat that is grown from animal cells in a lab without needing to raise or slaughter animals.
The process involves taking cells from an animal, placing them in a nutrient-rich solution within bioreactors and then structuring the resulting muscle and fat tissues into a food product.
Campbell’s has disclosed that its canola, corn, soybean and sugar beet are grown from genetically modified seeds.
Opponents of lab-grown meat cite economic threats to traditional agriculture, concerns about the product’s safety and ‘unnatural’ origins, and potential scalability and environmental issues.
A spokesperson for Campbell Soup Company told Daily Mail: ‘We are proud of the food we make, the people who make it and the high-quality ingredients we use.
‘The comments on the recording are not only inaccurate – they are patently absurd.
‘Keep in mind, the alleged comments are made by an IT person, who has nothing to do with how we make our food.
‘If the recording is legitimate, the comments are unacceptable. They do not reflect our values and the culture of our company.’
The spokesperson added that the company does not use bioengineered meat.
‘The chicken meat used in our soups comes from long-trusted, USDA-approved US suppliers and meets our high quality standards,’ they said.
‘All of our soups are made with No Antibiotics Ever chicken meat, meaning we don’t allow antibiotics to be added to the feed, water, or any commercial vaccines used by our chicken suppliers.’
Garza, who began working remotely for the company in September 2024, said he met Bally at a restaurant around November 2024, hoping to discuss his salary.
However, Garza claimed that Bally went into an hour-long rant, allegedly insulting everything from Campbell’s products to employees, customers and also made racist comments about the company’s Indian staff members.
Bally has been employed at Campbell’s since January 2022.
Garza said he went to his supervisor in January to report what Bally allegedly said in the meeting.
The lawsuit states: ‘On or about January 30, 2025, Plaintiff was abruptly terminated from employment.
‘Upon information and belief, Defendant [the supervisor] and Bally were responsible for Plaintiff’s termination.’
The lawsuit claims that Garza has suffered, and is expected to continue suffering, stress, humiliation, embarrassment, outrage, mental anguish, denial of social pleasures, fear, mortification, emotional harm, as well as economic and non-economic damages, attorney fees and costs and additional damages that may be uncovered during litigation as a result of the termination.
The lawsuit alleges that Garza was terminated on January 30, 2025, as retaliation for speaking out about Bally’s conduct – and accuses Campbell’s of fostering a racially toxic workplace.
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