Florida’s political furnace just got hotter—and this time the flames are aimed squarely at Campbell’s. State Attorney General James Uthmeier is vowing to “shut down” any company daring to violate Florida’s ban on lab-grown meat, and Campbell’s Soup Company is suddenly in the crosshairs after a secretly recorded executive went off on a jaw-dropping rant.

The scandal erupted after WDIV aired portions of an hour-long recording captured by former Campbell’s employee Robert Garza, who claims he hit “record” after witnessing what he describes as disturbing behavior from the company’s Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer, Martin Bally.

In the clip, a voice identified as Bally can be heard sneering, “We have s**t for f***ing poor people. Who buys our s**t?”* Another moment has the speaker confessing, “I don’t buy Campbell’s products barely anymore. It’s not healthy now that I know what the f’***s in it.”*

He also rants about food technology, declaring, “I don’t wanna eat a f***ing piece of chicken that came from a 3D printer,” referencing what he called “bioengineered meat.”

Not long after the broadcast, AG Uthmeier blasted out a warning on X, thundering: “We don’t do the fake, lab grown meat here in Florida. We’ll enforce the law and shut down!”

Florida outlawed lab-grown meat last year, joining a list of seven states that prohibit cultivated meat products. At the time, Gov. Ron DeSantis framed the ban as a strike against what he described as the “global elite’s plan to force the world to eat meat grown in a petri dish or bugs.” He vowed Florida would “save our beef” and keep traditional ranching alive.

Now, Uthmeier says the state’s Consumer Protection division is officially launching a probe into Campbell’s, demanding clarity on whether any of Bally’s remarks have real-world relevance—or if they were simply the musings of a loose-lipped executive.

Campbell’s is aggressively denying the implication that its soups contain anything resembling lab-grown protein.

“We use 100% real chicken in our soups,” company spokesman James F. Regan told Newsweek, emphasizing that the meat comes from “long-trusted, USDA approved U.S. suppliers” and meets strict quality standards. He added that the soups use No Antibiotics Ever chicken.

Another spokesperson previously slammed the recording as “patently absurd,” and the company has placed Bally on temporary leave while it conducts its own investigation.

Campbell’s insists that, if the recording is authentic, the statements “do not reflect our values and the culture of our company.”

Garza, the whistleblower who recorded Bally’s comments, isn’t just airing tapes—he’s suing Campbell’s Soup Company and supervisor J.D. Aupperle for employment discrimination and retaliation.

Filed in Wayne County Circuit Court, the lawsuit alleges Garza was fired on January 30 after raising concerns about Bally’s conduct. It further claims the company fostered a racially hostile work environment.

Garza says the company’s family-friendly branding doesn’t match the reality: “They have a motto: ‘We treat you like family here at Campbell’s.’ That’s not the case.”

His attorney emphasized that Garza had no disciplinary history and was never written up for performance issues.

The legal battle is now moving forward in Michigan’s courts, while Florida’s investigation ramps up.