Campbell's contains 'bioengineered meat': What a lawsuit filed by former IT employee claims
A top executive at Campbell’s has been placed on temporary leave as of Tuesday as the world’s largest soup maker begins an internal investigation into a scandal that broke last week.
The decision regarding putting Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer Martin Bally on leave was made after audio recordings of him were released to media outlets by former employee Robert Garza on Saturday. Just two days before that, Garza had filed a whistleblower lawsuit alleging wrongful termination in Michigan on Thursday.
Here’s what we know about the controversy involving the 154-year-old company.
What ignited the Campbell’s controversy?The scandal kickstarted after the expletive-laden audio remarks were shared with NBC Detroit affiliate WDIV last week and later with Business Insider . The remarks were part of an hour-long recording Garza said he made at a restaurant where he was allegedly meeting with Bally in November to discuss his salary as a security analyst.
Garza told WDIV he recorded the encounter because his instincts told him “something wasn’t right” with Bally.
“We have s— for f—ing poor people. Who buys our s—, ” a man’s voice is heard asking on the recording.
The man adds that he doesn’t purchase the company’s products anymore, saying he doesn’t consider it “healthy” knowing what’s in it, alleging cans of soup contain “bioengineered meat,” a product grown in a lab or genetically modified as opposed to being raised organically.
“I don’t want to eat a f—ing piece of chicken that came from a 3D printer,” he allegedly said.
At another point, the man is heard disparaging the intelligence of Indian employees.
“F—ing Indians don’t know a f—ing thing. Like they couldn’t think for their f—ing selves,” the man says.
National Post has not independently confirmed the audio’s authenticity.
Why is the former Campbell’s employee suing the soup company?Filed Thursday in Wayne County Circuit Court, Garza’s suit alleges that he brought the recordings and his concerns from the meeting with Bally to his supervisor, JP Aupperle, in early January, only to be fired before the end of the month.
The statement of claim alleges that Bally and Aupperle, along with the company itself, are guilty of a civil rights violation by creating a racially hostile work environment.
“ This situation has been very hard on Robert,” Zach Runyan, Garza’s lawyer, wrote in an email to National Post that included a copy of the statement of claim.
“He thought Campbell’s would be thankful that he reported Martin’s behavior, but instead he was abruptly fired.”
National Post also requested the audio recording from Runyan, but it was not provided at the time of publishing.
The filing also claims that Bally repeatedly came to work high on marijuana edibles.
While the suit is centred largely on what was said in the recording, it is not included in the filing, Business Insider reported.
Garza is seeking recompense for legal fees, economic damages and non-economic damages, legal fees and “other damages to be discovered through the course of litigation.”
How has Campbell’s responded to the allegations?Campbell’s Company, which dropped “Soup” from its official name in 2024 , said if it were Bally on the recording, the comments “are unacceptable.”
“Such language does not reflect our values and the culture of our company. We do not tolerate that kind of language under any circumstances,” it wrote in a statement on Tuesday.
The company also defended the quality of its products and said the accusations on the recording “are not only inaccurate — they are patently absurd.”
“The chicken meat in our soups comes from long-trusted, USDA approved U.S. suppliers and meets our high quality standards. All our soups are made with No Antibiotics Ever chicken meat. Any claims to the contrary are completely false.”
It also highlighted that Bally works in the company’s IT division and is in no way involved with how the food is made.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson also told ABC News that Garza, who’d only been with the company for under five months, was terminated for good reason.
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