Robert Garza, who was a security analyst at the company, filed a lawsuit in Michigan last week accusing Martin Bally, the top executive, of making fun of low-income consumers and denigrating its Indian employees
20:42 ET, 27 Nov 2025Updated 20:46 ET, 27 Nov 2025
Cans of Campbell’s soup sit on a shelf in a grocery store on September 28, 2018 in Hoboken, New Jersey(Image: Getty Images)
Campbell’s Soup announced on Wednesday that it fired a top executive who allegedly referred to the soup company’s products as being made for “poor people”, calling the comments “vulgar, offensive and false”.
Robert Garza, who was a security analyst at the company, filed a lawsuit in Michigan last week, accusing Martin Bally, the top executive, of making fun of low-income consumers and denigrating the company’s Indian employees. Garza filed a lawsuit on Nov. 20, alleging he went to his supervisor to raise concerns about the remarks but was fired a few weeks later.
“The company learned of the litigation and first heard segments of the audio on November 20, 2025. Neither Mr. Garza nor his lawyer ever notified us of the existence of an audio recording,” Campbell’s wrote in a statement Wednesday. “After a review, we believe the voice on the recording is in fact Martin Bally.”
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Campbell’s ousted Bally, who was the vice president of information technology, after reviewing audio shared by Garza. “The comments were vulgar, offensive and false, and we apologize for the hurt they have caused. This behavior does not reflect our values and the culture of our company, and we will not tolerate that kind of language under any circumstances,” the statement read.
Campbell’s Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer Martin Bally (Image: Linkedin/Martin Bally)
“As of November 25, Mr. Bally is no longer employed by the company,” the statement. “I don’t wanna eat a piece of chicken that came from a 3D printer”, the person identified by Garza as Martin Bally can be heard saying in the recording provided to Detroit’s Local News 4.
“I don’t buy Campbell’s products barely anymore. It’s not healthy now that I know what the f— [is] in it,” he said, according to the audio. “Bioengineered meat, I don’t want to eat a piece of chicken that came from a 3D printer.”
Campbell’s Soup factory in Chicago, Illinois(Image: Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Garza said in the lawsuit that he recorded Bally because he felt “something wasn’t right with Martin.” Garza said the conversation initially centred on his salary.
Allegedly referring to Campbell’s Indian employees, Bally said: “Fucking Indians don’t know a fucking thing … Like they couldn’t think for their fucking selves.” He added, “[Bally] has no filter.” “
“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,” seethed Garza. Campbell first placed the executive on temporary leave while conducting an investigation.
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On Wednesday, it rebuked Bally’s comments, calling the claims about its food products “absurd.” The statement continues, “We are proud of the food we make, the people who make it and the high-quality ingredients we use to provide consumers with good food at a good value,” the statement reads.
“The comments heard on the recording about our food are not only inaccurate—they are patently absurd,” it adds. “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.”
The company is also facing another lawsuit for illegally discharging wastewater into a major U.S. river. In September, the New Jersey-based company admitted that its Napoleon, Ohio, canning plant illegally dumped wastewater more than 5,400 times from April 2018 to December 2024, breaking federal water pollution laws.
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