Well Food Company - Carne Bars

Last in the series on Well Food Company are these Carne Bars. See our other reviews of Well Food Company.

Well Food Company is a brand of sports snacks that originally launched in 2009 as Paleo Brands Inc. It was started by John Welbourn, former offensive tackle with the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs, as well as his friend Joe Cappucio, founder of Del Mar Seafoods.

These Carne Bars is a chopped and formed beef snack that come in two varieties: Coconut and Berry. Well Food Company describes the Carne Bar as, "the ULTIMATE Paleo Protein Bar". They're made from grass-fed beef, no preservatives, and are gluten-free.


Ingredients

Berry: Grass-fed beef, organic dried blueberries, organic raw goji berries, unrefined sea salt, organic black pepper, celery powder, organic garlic powder, organic cayenne, starter culture.

Coconut: Grass-fed beef, organic raw coconut butter, organic apple butter, organic raw cacao nibs, unrefined sea salt, organic black pepper, celery powder, organic garlic powder, organic cayenne, starter culture

Taste

Berry: These mostly have a moderately salty flavor with a notes of garlic. The black pepper creeps up and becomes stronger over time. There's a bit of spiciness, likely from the cayenne.

There's even a light fishy flavor and smell to these bars.

The blueberries and goji berries are not noticeable in flavor, though I can feel them as I bite into a bar.

Overall, the dominant flavor of this is a saltiness with light seasonings, a light bit of heat, mixed with a faint fishy character. There's no natural meat flavor detectable.

Coconut: I can pick up the cacao nibs and touches of coconut. There's also the same saltiness as in the Berry, though the seasonings are less noticeable.

The aroma of this bar is much like canned dog food. It's like some kid mixed a bag of chocolate chips with meat loaf and left it sitting in its own grease. I've smelled an awful lot of dog food in my time, and I can't stop myself from seeing cans of Mighty Dog or Alpo in my head.

Meat Consistency

These are bars made from chopped & formed beef.

The bars maintain a fair amount of chewiness, thought they don't take too much work to bite off chunks. Once chewed down to a soft mass, they feel crumbly and slightly rubbery.

The Berry bar is actually more stuff and compact, while the Coconut bar is slightly more tender thought more oily.

Snack Value

Well Food Company sells these Carne Bars in a box of 6 for $40.99, with each bar at 2oz.

For jerky meat snacking purposes, it's a poor value. The flavor is terrible, with the Berry bar having a slight fishy aroma and flavor, and the Coconut bar smelling and looking like canned dog food.

As a sport snack, it's perhaps a good value, being gluten-free, rich in protein and antioxidants.

Rating

I'm giving this a Dog Treats rating.

These Carne Bars from Well Food Company may be well suited for diet and fitness aficionados, but they severely lack in flavor and chewing.

The Berry bar has a slight fishy aroma and flavor, with no meat flavor and not even any berry flavor. It's largely salty with seasonings and a light bit of heat. The Coconut bar has an aroma much like canned dog food, and perhaps a similar flavor. The mixture of cacao nibs and a mushy, slightly greasy meat, almost made me want to spit it back out.

As a sport snack and paleo snack, I can appreciate the organic ingredients, low sugar, and gluten-free ingredients, but the flavor makes me want to find another alternative.

Rating: Dog Treats (1/5)