Jerky has a wholesome reputation — it’s just dried meat, right? On paper, yes. In practice, most mass-produced jerky is a delivery system for additives that have nothing to do with beef. If you’ve been buying jerky thinking you’re making the healthy choice, the back of the bag may surprise you.
Below are the six ingredients we see most often in conventional jerky, what each one actually does, and why our Machaca-style jerky skips all of them in favor of just beef, salt, and pepper.
1. Added sugar (in all its disguises)
This is the big one. Cane sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, honey, dextrose, and maltodextrin all show up to preserve the meat, mask cheaper cuts, and make the product crave-able. A single serving of sweetened jerky can rival a cookie for sugar content.
Why it matters: Added sugar spikes blood glucose and undercuts the whole reason you reached for a protein snack. For keto, paleo, and diabetic-friendly eating, it’s a dealbreaker.
What to look for instead: 0–1g of added sugar per serving, with no sweeteners in the ingredient list.
2. Sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate
These curing agents keep jerky’s color bright and extend shelf life. They’re effective — which is why they’re nearly universal in commercial meat snacks.
Why it matters: Many shoppers actively avoid nitrites and prefer meat preserved the traditional way: salt and drying.
What to look for instead: Jerky preserved by low-and-slow drying and salt, not chemical curing.
3. MSG (monosodium glutamate)
MSG amplifies savory flavor. It’s used heavily when the underlying meat isn’t flavorful enough to carry the bag on its own.
Why it matters: Plenty of people choose to avoid MSG, and good beef seasoned simply doesn’t need a flavor crutch.
What to look for instead: Short ingredient lists where seasoning means actual salt and pepper.
4. “Natural flavors”
It sounds harmless, but “natural flavors” is a catch-all term that can hide a long roster of compounds the manufacturer doesn’t have to itemize.
Why it matters: If you care about knowing exactly what you’re eating, a vague umbrella term is the opposite of transparency.
What to look for instead: Ingredients named specifically — beef, salt, pepper — with nothing left to your imagination.
5. Fillers and binders
Some jerky is bulked up with soy protein, textured vegetable protein, or other binders to add weight cheaply. More weight in the bag for less actual beef.
Why it matters: You’re paying for filler instead of protein, and the texture suffers for it.
What to look for instead: Whole-muscle or shredded beef as the foundation, not a reconstituted patty of bits and binders.
6. Artificial preservatives and coloring
Beyond nitrites, you’ll sometimes find artificial colors and shelf-life extenders engineered to keep a bag looking fresh for a year on a warehouse shelf.
Why it matters: A product that needs that much help to look edible is telling you something about how it was made.
What to look for instead: Jerky made in small batches and shipped fresh, the way perishable food is supposed to move.
The clean-label shortcut
You don’t have to memorize every additive. The fastest filter is simply this: the shorter the ingredient list, the cleaner the jerky. When the label reads “beef, salt, pepper,” there’s nowhere for the junk to hide.
That’s not a standard we adopted to chase a trend. It’s how jerky was made before the additives existed — meat, salt, and patience. We kept it that way on purpose.
- 17g of protein per 2 oz bag
- 0g added sugar
- No artificial ingredients
- Made in the USA, shipped the day you order
If you’ve been reading labels and walking away disappointed, here’s a bag that has nothing to hide.
See our clean ingredient jerky →
Don Pedro’s Kitchen makes Latin-style jerky in Covina, California — clean ingredients, no sugar, no artificial additives.