← Clean Food Score

Beef Jerky & Beef Sticks: The Cleanest Labels Ranked (Chomps, Paleovalley, Archer, EPIC)

October 17, 2026 · 8 min

Chapters

  1. The Short Answer
  2. What's in a Beef Stick
  3. Encapsulated Acids
  4. Celery Powder and Uncured
  5. Sugar and Soy Sauce
  6. The MSG Question
  7. Grass-Fed Claims
  8. The Bigger Picture
  9. The Ten Second Label Check
  10. The Ranked Picks
  11. Your Turn

Audio from the Clean Food Score video of the same name; the video shows the labels and scores on screen.

We read the labels on 49 beef sticks, jerky and meat bars. Here's what encapsulated citric acid and cultured celery powder actually do, why "uncured" still means cured, where sugar and soy sauce hide in jerky, and which products score highest (as of October 2026).

Full guide and the products we checked
Check any ingredient list free

Chapters
0:00 The Short Answer
0:46 What's in a Beef Stick
1:48 Encapsulated Acids
2:41 Celery Powder and Uncured
3:47 Sugar and Soy Sauce
4:43 The MSG Question
5:21 Grass-Fed Claims
6:08 The Bigger Picture
6:47 The Ten Second Label Check
7:25 The Ranked Picks
8:18 Your Turn

Product scores are Clean Food Score's 0–100 label scores as shown on cleanfoodscore.com on 2026-10-16. Recipes change, so read the package you buy. We read labels; this is not medical advice.

Music
"Friday Morning" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

"Reminiscing" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

"Fresh Air" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

"Carefree" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

Sound effects: Kenney (kenney.nl), CC0.

#beefjerky #beefsticks #foodlabels