Whoo boy, this actually sounds like it might be a true story; glad I’m not in Campbell’s PR department, ‘cause they’re going to be busy this week

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“True” as in the executive said what the claimant says he did. The actual authenticity of the meat used in the company’s products is another matter.

Found it on Legal Insurrection, a reliable, conservative law blog; the VP in question has been suspended; and there are tapes.

Fakes‑Giving: Campbell’s 3D ‘Meat’ Allegations May Sour Holiday Soup Sales

Campbell’s places rantish vice president on leave during an investigation related to secret video taken of him claiming soup contains bioengineered meat and is meant for poor people.

A Campbell Soup Company vice president, identified in reports as Martin Bally, was secretly recorded making derogatory remarks about Campbell’s products, the customers who buy them, and the ingredients used, including claims about “bioengineered meat” and “chicken from a 3‑D printer.”

These comments surfaced as part of an employment discrimination and retaliation lawsuit filed by former security analyst Robert Garza, who says he was fired after reporting the executive’s rant.

Garza alleges that Campbell’s executive Martin Bally made the offensive remarks during a meeting in November 2024, which was intended to discuss his salary. According to the lawsuit, Bally made several comments about Indian workers and said that Campbell’s is “highly [processed] food” for “poor people.”

Garza said he informed his manager, J.D. Aupperle, about the comments on Jan. 10 and claims Aupperle did not encourage him to report the incident to human resources.

Garza was then “abruptly terminated from employment” just weeks later, the lawsuit says. The discussion between Garza and Bally was recorded, according to Detroit television station WDIV.

James Regan, a Campbell’s spokesperson, said the company was not aware of the recording before it aired on WDIV on Thursday and doesn’t know if it’s legitimate.

Bally’s description of the soup and the work environment was…spicy.

“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,” Bally allegedly said in the recording. “Bioengineered meat — I don’t wanna eat a piece of chicken that came from a 3-D printer.”

The rant didn’t stop there. According to the lawsuit, Bally made several derogatory comments about Indian employees, calling them “idiots” and saying they “couldn’t think for their f—ing selves.”

Garza also alleges in the filing that Bally admitted to regularly coming to work high from marijuana edibles.

Furthermore, the company has put the vice president on leave during the investigation.

The company also confirmed that Bally has been placed on leave during an internal investigation into the alleged comments.

“He has no filter,” Garza said of Bally. “He thinks he’s a C-level executive at a Fortune 500 company and he can do whatever he wants because he’s an executive.”

Garza said he recorded an hour-long rant by the top Campbell Soup Company executive because he said he trusted his “instinct that something wasn’t right with Martin,” when he went to meet with him to discuss his salary. Instead, he said he sat at a restaurant and listened to an explosive, hour-long tirade. He recorded all of it.

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 Thursday 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.

“But the problem isn’t confined to Michigan. Florida’s attorney general said he will “shut down” violators of the state’s law on lab-grown meat and indicated he is launching an investigation into Campbell’s about the recorded claims.”

“We don’t do the fake, lab grown meat here in Florida. We’ll enforce the law and shut down!” Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said on X.

Uthmeier said the state’s Consumer Protection division is launching an investigation into the company.

Federal rules for labeling lab‑grown or “cell‑cultivated” meat are still being finalized. Still, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) jointly regulate these products. The USDA requires truthful, non‑misleading labels, and is moving toward standardized terms like “cell‑cultivated” or “cell‑cultured” in the product name.

If Campbell’s Soup were using bioengineered meat in its products without clearly indicating its presence, the company would face serious problems. Several states have their own branding requirements and will likely move to join Florida in their own investigations, especially if it looks like the allegations may be true.

At the very least, some Campbell’s VP is in for an unpleasant holiday season, as is, possibly Campbell’s legal counsel. You know that the plaintiff and his lawyer didn’t show up in a television studio until after settlement negotiations had broken down — or that would be my supposition, anyway. Depending on what their final demand number was, someone on the defense team may right now be explaining to his bosses why, exactly, he’d advised Campbell’s to reject it.