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Bally didn’t hold back in his remarks.
“We have st for f*king poor people,” Bally said on the recording that Garza provided to Local 4 News in Detroit. “Who buys our st? I don’t buy Campbell’s products barely anymore. It’s not healthy now that I know what the f’s in it.”¹
Pause for a moment. The Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer—an executive at the company since 2022—admits he refuses to eat Campbell’s products while continuing to sell the same food to working families.
He didn’t stop there.
“Bioengineered meat — I don’t wanna eat a piece of chicken that came from a 3-D printer,” he said.¹
Three-D printed chicken. The thought alone should alarm every parent with Campbell’s chicken noodle soup on their pantry shelf.
The executive also hurled racist insults at Indian employees.
“Fing Indians don’t know a fing thing,” the recording captured. “Like they couldn’t think for their f***ing selves.”¹
According to Garza’s lawsuit filed in Wayne County Circuit Court, Bally even admitted to showing up to work under the influence of marijuana edibles.
“He has no filter,” Garza told reporters. “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.”²
Whistleblower Fired While Executive Remains
Garza held onto the recording for weeks, struggling with what he had heard. In January 2025, he reported Bally’s shocking statements to his supervisor, J.D. Aupperle, believing he was protecting both employees and customers.
“He was really sticking up for other people,” Garza’s attorney, Zachary Runyan, explained. “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.'”³
Campbell’s response? They fired Garza just 20 days later. No prior disciplinary issues. No performance problems. Despite Bally praising Garza’s work during the same meeting where he went on his tirade, Campbell’s let him go.
Human Resources never investigated Bally’s behavior. No action was taken regarding his admission of coming to work high or insulting employees and customers. Garza spent 10 months unemployed while Bally retained his six-figure salary and executive position.
Florida Launches Criminal Investigation
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced a criminal probe into Campbell’s over the alleged use of lab-grown and bioengineered meat.
“Florida law bans lab-grown meat,” Uthmeier said. “Our Consumer Protection division is launching an investigation and will demand answers from Campbell’s.”⁴
Violations carry serious penalties: up to 60 days in jail and $500 fines for companies found in breach. Bally’s claims about “3-D printed chicken” put Campbell’s squarely in the crosshairs.
Campbell’s attempted damage control.
“If the comments were in fact made, they are unacceptable,” a company spokesperson said. “Mr. Bally is temporarily on leave while we conduct an investigation.”⁵
Not fired. Not disciplined. Just a paid vacation while the story spreads.
A Pattern of Deception
This is not Campbell’s first scandal. In 2024, the DOJ sued Campbell’s for dumping pollutants into Ohio’s Maumee River, admitting to 5,400 Clean Water Act violations. In 2021, its subsidiary Plum Foods faced a lawsuit over toxic heavy metals in baby food.
Garza saw through the corporate façade.
“They have a motto: ‘We treat you like family here at Campbell’s — come work for us,'” he said. “‘We treat our employees like family.’ That’s not the case.”²
The recording confirms it: a senior executive won’t eat the company’s own products but has no qualms selling them to millions of American families. And the whistleblower? Fired.
Florida’s investigation will determine if Campbell’s broke the law. But one truth is already clear: the company’s billion-dollar reputation was built on trust—trust its own Vice President just admitted is a lie.
