Tuesday, April 1, 2008

World Kitchens Beef Jerky

Note: I originally wrote this review in May of 2006 on Junk Food Blog. I'm reprinting it here.

I don't normally do taste tests here at Junk Food Blog, but this is one of those rare times that I will.

Summary: Barf!!!

World Kitchens is a brand of beef jerky I found at the supermarket yesterday. I'm always buying beef jerky and sunflower seeds as my blog staple of choice, and I needed to replenish.

I bought this particular bag of jerky because it contained a full pound (16oz) of jerky, compared to the 4oz you often see with other brands. Moreover, it only costs $9.99, compared to $5.99 for the 4oz competitor brands. What a deal I thought!

I bought the Teriyaki flavor.

The very first taste told me right away something was wrong. It didn't taste like jerky. Yes, it did have a teriyaki flavor, but it was almost like this stuff was very old. I checked the expiration date, it was dated for "09/20/07", still plenty fresh.

I gave the piece some chews and it crumbled apart into pieces. It's obviously not real chunks of meat. The package does say, "BEEF JERKY", and the ingredients does say, "sliced beef", but beef could be from any part of the animal. There's beef hearts, beef tongue, beef liver, beef kidney, etc.

Chewing further on, this stuff started tasting like liver. Honestly, I don't know what this stuff is made out of.

The package says the jerky is actually made in Brazil, and distributed to the USA by BrucePac, apparently the company that owns the World Kitchens brand.

Interestingly, the company has published a long list of customer comments from its most loyal of fans.

I think I'll save the rest of it for my dogs. I hope they'll understand.

Note: Check out another review I did for my dog blog.

Rating: Dog Treats

Buy this from Amazon.com: World Kitchens Beef Jerky

Update: (Apr 2, 2008), a couple months after publishing this review on Junk Food Blog, the people at World Kitchens actually send me a check refunding the price I paid at the store. So, hats off to them for being stand-up people!

12 comments:

  1. this stuff is terrible, i'm pretty sure this is made of organ meat

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    1. Yuck, yuck, eww. Didn't even choke down the second piece and threw it all away. Wouldn't give it to my cats.

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  2. best damn beef jerky I've ever eaten, I buy 2-3 bags weekly.As far as I'nm concerned its # 1 jerky

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  3. I bought a bag of this at Walmart some time ago and didn't really enjoy it either. The Great Values brand was a lot better, though a bit more expensive.

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  4. While it is not the best beef jerkey it is one of THE best mainline store brands (way better then the greasy processed kid stuff I don't like). So far the best I have found that still exists is Mahogahany Meats (out of Bishop, CA) Indian Beef Jerky. Trivia: I don't like Teryaki or heavy peppered or other flavors - I tend to like natural flavors.

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  5. I've read your blog a few times, I've actually taken it's word. Today I saw the worlds kitchen jerky, and it's 1$ an Oz. I thought. GREAT Price, for a 12oz bag. cool.
    I looked it up and saw this before I opened it. Eh, I figured it's cheap... what am I expecting. I bought the peppered style. And I do taste some organ meat taste, but I'm actually surprised with the quality.
    They must've taken your word and changed something. It's a pretty good flavor, and good quality meat, with a light organ flavor. Which I'm ok with. It kinda gives it a natural taste. It's definitely not extruded and formed, which is a plus in my book. I request a second review. It may be worth it to see what difference they've made.

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  6. To the above anonymous commenter, they could have very well changed. Often times brands that sell jerky in 1 pound bags use a cheaper grade of meat than what they use in smaller bags. I'll note that I did a review of World Kitchen's Sweet & Hot in the 4oz bag, and found it to be a better quality meat.

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  7. I just received a bag of the Brown sugar beef jerky from Amazon, and I'm eating it right now. There is NO organ meat taste, I guess you don't how organ meat taste like.

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  8. Bought a 12 oz bag from QT a few days ago. I like it. Not the best but definitely not the worst.

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  9. Its rather uninteresting, not chewy as jerky should be. My dogs like it though.

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  10. I just bought my second 10 oz bag of Teriyaki at Menards. It's as good as any other and for $6 I'll buy a bag every time I'm in there.

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  11. I like it. Better taste and texture than most other brands

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