A recording of comments by a company executive has prompted Florida’s attorney general to launch an investigation into Campbell Soup Co.
The recording was captured secretly and posted on social media.
Martin Bally, Campbell’s executive vice president and chief information security officer, said he no longer buys Campbell’s products and said he is concerned about lab-grown meat.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said in a social media post that Florida “doesn’t do fake, lab-grown meat” and vowed to enforce the law and “shut down” violators. The state’s Consumer Protection division is now launching a formal investigation into Campbell’s.
The recording includes a speaker identified as Bally saying he didn’t want to eat “a piece of chicken that came from a 3D printer.”
Campbell’s has denied using lab-grown ingredients. “We use 100 per cent real chicken in our soups,” James F. Regan, director of external communications, told a reporter. “Any claims to the contrary are completely false.”
The recording was made by former employee Robert Garza, who is suing Campbell’s and a supervisor in Michigan’s Wayne County Circuit Court for retaliation and employment discrimination. The lawsuit claims Garza was fired in January after raising concerns about Bally’s conduct.
Seven states, including Florida, ban the production or sale of lab-grown meat. Last year, Gov. Ron DeSantis said the legislation was aimed at protecting traditional livestock producers and pushing back against efforts “to force the world to eat meat grown in a petri dish.”
