Campbell Soup Company is facing serious allegations after a former employee claimed he secretly recorded a company vice president making racist remarks, mocking customers, and criticizing the company's own products.
The worker, Robert Garza, has now filed a lawsuit saying he was fired in retaliation for reporting what he heard.
According to the lawsuit, Garza, a former cybersecurity analyst from Michigan, met with Campbell's Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer, Martin Bally, during what was supposed to be a routine salary discussion late last year.
Garza said he trusted a gut feeling and decided to record the meeting. According to the NY Post, what he captured, he later told reporters, left him feeling "pure disgust."
The recording, which reportedly lasted more than 75 minutes, includes a voice identified as Bally saying, "We have s–t for f–king poor people. Who buys our s–t? I don't buy Campbell's products barely anymore."
He also complained about ingredients, saying he didn't want to eat "bioengineered meat," and then insulted Indian coworkers, declaring they "don't know a f–king thing."
Garza said he kept the audio to himself for several weeks because he didn't know how to process what he heard. But by January, he decided he needed to report Bally's behavior to his supervisor.
🚨BREAKING: Campbells Soup’s VP and CISO, Martin Bally, was secretly recorded claiming the company uses bioengineered meat, their products aren’t healthy, and that mostly poor people buy them
— Digi Gal 🌸 (@DigitalGalX) November 24, 2025
What is going on?
😳 pic.twitter.com/SGB6m5IrUt
Campbell Soup Denies VP's Claims About Ingredient
According to Garza, he had no record of performance issues and had even been praised by Bally in the same meeting where the comments were made.
However, Garza says that just 20 days after reporting the comments, he was suddenly fired.
His attorney, Zachary Runyan, said, "He reached out to his supervisor... and then out of nowhere, my client was fired." Runyan added that Garza "was really sticking up for other people."
Campbell Soup responded by saying Bally is "temporarily on leave" while an investigation takes place, DailyMail reported.
A company spokesperson said the comments on the recording were "unacceptable" and "do not reflect our values."
The company also pushed back on Bally's claims about Campbell's ingredients, saying the remarks were "patently absurd."
Garza's lawsuit alleges Campbell's maintained a racially hostile work environment and punished him for reporting discrimination.
He says he received no follow-up from human resources after raising concerns and that losing his job caused stress, financial strain, and months of unemployment.
The former employee said he once believed Campbell's motto about treating workers like family. After everything that happened, he now says, "That's not the case."
Originally published on vcpost.com
