Florida’s attorney general said an investigation has been launched into Campbell’s after the company’s vice president was caught on a secret recording calling its chicken “bioengineered.”
“Florida law bans lab-grown meat,” Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said in a social media post on Monday morning. “Our Consumer Protection division is launching an investigation and will demand answers from Campbell’s.”
Florida law bans lab-grown meat.
— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) November 24, 2025
Our Consumer Protection division is launching an investigation and will demand answers from Campbell’s. https://t.co/9nDO0EbDwH
Utmeier also shared another post on Monday afternoon, saying, “We don’t do the fake, lab grown meat here in Florida. We’ll enforce the law and shut down!”
Local 4 spoke to a former employee at Campbell’s, Robert Garza, of Monroe, last week. Garza said he was fired after he complained about Vice President Martin Bally.
VP caught bashing customers, coworkers, products on secret recording
Garza said he recorded an hour-long rant by the top Campbell Soup executive because he trusted his instinct that something was off when he met to discuss his salary. Instead, he ended up sitting at a restaurant, listening to an explosive tirade—and recorded the entire thing.
“We have s--t for f**king poor people. Who buys our s--t? I don’t buy Campbell’s products barely anymore. It’s not healthy now that I know what the f---‘s in it,” part of the recording said. “Bioengineered meat -- I don’t wanna eat a piece of chicken that came from a 3-D printer.”
Read more --> Campbell Soup exec caught on secret recording slamming product, people who buy it
The recording lasted longer than an hour and 15 minutes and included what Garza said was a “disgusting” rant about his coworkers.
Employee says he was fired after reporting alleged remarks
Garza told Local 4 he began working remotely as a security analyst in September 2024 for the company’s Camden, New Jersey headquarters.
In January 2025, he went to his direct supervisor, J.D. Aupperle, to report what he’d heard.
Garza’s attorney, Zachary Runyan, said Garza was blindsided 20 days later.
“He reached out to his supervisor and told the supervisor what Martin was saying, and then out of nowhere, my client was fired,” Runyan said. “He was really sticking up for other people. He went to his boss and said, ‘Martin is saying this about Indian coworkers we have, he’s saying this about people who buy our food -- who keep our company open, and I don’t think that should be allowed.’ And the response to Robert sticking up for other people is he gets fired, which is ridiculous.”
Garza said he received no follow-up from Human Resources or Campbell’s and said the way the company handled everything was “simply terrible.”
“They have a motto: ‘We treat you like family here at Campbell‘s -- come work for us,’” Garza said. “‘We treat our employees like family.’ That’s not the case.”
Lawsuit filed
Garza is now suing the company -- alleging racist remarks, admissions of drug use at work and retaliation after he tried to report it.
The lawsuit was filed on Thursday, Nov. 20, in Wayne County Circuit Court and names Campbell Soup Company, vice president and chief information security officer Martin Bally, and supervisor J.D. Aupperle as defendants.
VP placed on leave
On Monday, Nov. 24, 2025, the company confirmed to Local 4 that Bally was placed on leave amid an internal investigation into the alleged remarks.
Statement from Campbell’s
Campbell’s also released the following statement:
“We are proud of the food we make, the people who make it, and the high-quality ingredients we use. The comments heard on the recording about our food are not only inaccurate -- they are patently absurd.
We use 100% real chicken in our soups. The chicken meat comes from long-trusted, USDA-approved U.S. suppliers and meets our high quality standards. All of our soups are made with No Antibiotics Ever chicken meat. Any claims to the contrary are completely false."
Campbell Soup Company
Florida’s ban on lab-grown meat
In May 2024, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed SB 1084 to ban the sale of lab-grown meat in Florida.
“Today, Florida is fighting back against the global elite’s plan to force the world to eat meat grown in a petri dish or bugs to achieve their authoritarian goals,” DeSantis previously said in a release. “Our administration will continue to focus on investing in our local farmers and ranchers, and we will save our beef.”
Read more --> Federal lawsuit against Florida ban on ‘lab-grown’ meat still alive after judge’s ruling