Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is launching an investigation into claims that Campbell's uses lab-grown meat in its beloved soup.
The claims surfaced after a recording, allegedly capturing Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer Martin Bally, appeared to show him referring to the company's meat as 'bioengineered.'
'It's not healthy now that I know what the f***'s in it,' a speaker identified as Bally said. 'Bioengineered meat -- I don't wanna eat a piece of chicken that came from a 3D printer.'
Uthmeier, noting that lab-grown meat is banned in Florida, announced on X Monday that the state's Consumer Protection division will 'demand answers from Campbell's.'
The investigation comes on the heels of a secretly recorded audio clip released by former Campbell’s security analyst Robert Garza, who filed a lawsuit Thursday claiming he was fired after raising concerns about racist remarks and demeaning comments he says Bally made.
Garza provided the recording to Detroit’s Local 4 News, which aired portions of it.
While the audio appears to show Bally claiming Campbell’s uses bioengineered meat, a company spokesperson told Daily Mail that the allegation is false.
'The chicken meat used in our soups comes from long-trusted, USDA-approved US suppliers and meets our high quality standards,' the spokesperson 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.'
In the audio, a speaker identified as Bally is heard saying: 'We have s**t for f***king poor people. Who buys our s**t? I don't buy Campbell's products barely anymore.'
While bioengineered foods are allowed for sale in the US, companies are required to label such products.
Campbell's has disclosed that its canola, corn, soybean and sugar beet are grown from genetically modified seeds.
A Campbell's spokesperson 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.
'Mr Bally is temporarily on leave while we conduct an investigation.'
Daily Mail has contacted Bally for comment.
Bioengineered meat, also called cultured, cell-based, or lab-grown meat, is real animal meat produced by growing animal cells in a controlled environment instead of raising and slaughtering livestock.
Florida banned lab-grown meat in 2024 primarily to protect traditional agriculture and family farms, citing concerns about the industry disrupting livestock markets.
The process involves taking a sample of animal cells, cultivating them in a nutrient-rich solution within bioreactors, and then structuring the resulting muscle and fat tissues into a food product.
Florida Gov Ron DeSantis said it will 'save our beef' from the 'global elite' that wants to change US diets.
Lab-grown or 'cultivated' meat was first cleared for consumption in the US in 2022.
Their product is derived from a small sample of cells collected from livestock, which is then fed nutrients and grown in enormous steel vessels called bioreactors.
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.
Garza, who began working remotely for the company in September 2024, said he met Bally at a restaurant in or around November 2024, hoping to discuss his salary, according to the lawsuit seen by Daily Mail.
However, Garza claimed that Bally went into an hour-long rant, allegedly slamming everything from the company's products to employees, customers and also made racist comments about Campbell's Indian staff members, according to the lawsuit.
Bally has been employed at Campbell's since January 2022.
The recording lasted longer than an hour and 15 minutes and included what Garza said was a 'disgusting' rant about his coworkers, Local News 4 reported.
'F***ing Indians don't know a f***ing thing,' the person in the recording said. 'Like they couldn't think for their f***ing selves,' the person who identified as Bally said in part.
Garza told Local News 4 that he went to his supervisor in January 2025 to report what he claimed Bally said during 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.'
As a result of the termination, the lawsuit claims 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.
'He reached out to his supervisor and told the supervisor what Martin was saying, and then out of nowhere, my client was fired,' Runyan told Local News 4.
'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 that he gets fired, which is ridiculous.'
Runyan also told Local News that Garza 'had never had any disciplinary action, they had never written him up for work performance.'
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.
'They have a motto: 'We treat you like family here at Campbell's -- come work for us,' Garza told Local News 4. 'We treat our employees like family.' That's not the case.'
