Note: For a current live taste review on a tweaked ingredient list and bag design, open up World Kitchens – Teriyaki Beef Jerky (Recipe #2).
The next review on World Kitchens will be on a 3/4 pound/12 ounce/360 gram bag of their teriyaki flavored beef jerky. This bag was purchased at a convenience store in St. Augustine, Florida back in 2011.
This World Kitchens brand of jerky is distributed under the same name of World Kitchens, and it is located in Laurens, Iowa. However, this jerky is manufactured by Link Snacks, Inc., world famous for manufacturing the Jack Link’s brand of jerky, based out of Minong, Wisconsin. The first bag of World Kitchens jerky was sold in 1984 at an affordable price. Still, today it is an affordable price, and still the cheapest jerky brand reviewed to date on this jerky review web site of nearly 200 different brands of jerky. The jerky used here is packaged in these upper Midwestern states: Alpena, South Dakota; Mankato, Minnesota; New Glarus, Wisconsin; Minong, Wisconsin; and Bellevue, Nebraska.
Ingredient Review
Ingredients: Sliced Beef, Water, Brown Sugar, Sugar, Salt, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Spice, Papaya Juice, Vinegar, Monosodium Glutamate, Natural Smoke Flavor, Sodium Nitrite, Powdered Onion, Powdered Garlic, Citric Acid, Soy Sauce Powder [(Wheat, Soybeans, Salt), Maltodextrin, Salt]. Allergen Warnings: Soy, Wheat
The beef used is not guaranteed to be free of growth hormones or additional antibiotics. Also, the beef is not guaranteed to have at least partial free range access to graze on grass. As a result, the highest ingredient rating that can be awarded is a Good (8/10) rating.
The liquid marinade used here is comprised of water, healthy papaya juice, and healthy vinegar. The soy sauce used here is in powdered form. Papaya is a very healthy fruit that contains an enzyme named papain, which acts as a natural meat tenderizer.
Some healthy ingredients added are spice, onion powder, and garlic powder.
The sugar level is high at 7 grams of sugar per 28 grams of jerky to lose one rating. Our preference is 5 grams of sugar or under for a sweet based flavor as we have here with teriyaki. Note that a little trick is used here, using both brown sugar and sugar. If just one type of sugar were used, then sugar would likely be the first ingredient listed by weight after the beef.
The salt level is quite high at 580mg of salt per 28 grams of jerky to lose two ratings. Our preference is 350mg of salt or less per 28 grams of jerky.
This jerky does use unhealthy sodium nitrite as the main preservative to lose a rating. Noteworthy is that sodium nitrite is listed around the middle of this ingredient list by weight, where normally sodium nitrite would be the last ingredient listed by weight. Citric acid also acts as a preservative to a lesser degree, where the quality of citric acid can vary widely.
This jerky does not qualify to be MSG free, as the unhealthy flavor enhancer monosodium glutamate (MSG) is used outright to lose a rating. Worse, the highly processed cheap flavor enhancer hydrolyzed soy protein is used to lose another rating.
Very Bad (2/10) – Ingredient Rating
Taste Review
Note: For a current live taste review on a tweaked ingredient list and bag design, open up World Kitchens – Teriyaki Beef Jerky (Recipe #2).
Back in 2011, I kept vague taste notes in an Excel spreadsheet. While I do not have that much recollection of this particular teriyaki flavor, my taste notes indicated that this was a decent tasting jerky. The taste notes also indicated that the texture was not very good, meaning it had a processed taste or feel to it.
This 3/4 pound/12 ounce/360 gram bag of jerky cost $9.99. That works out to 83 cents an ounce, which rated as a dirt cheap price back in 2011.
Bag Review
This bag was about the biggest jerky bag you will find for sale. Everything is imprinted directly on this resealable bag, both on the front and back. There are no affixed labels. The World Kitchens logo is fitting, a picture of a globe.
The World Kitchens slogans printed are “Quality Meats” and “It’s All About The Jerky!”. Some facts printed on this bag are “3/4 Pounder”, “Natural Style”, “Made From Solid Strips of Beef”, “Packaged in the USA”, and “Smoke Flavor Added”.
All bag categories are covered with this bag. The only minor complaint is that there is a considerable amount of unused space on this bag.
Hi! I know this is a pretty old blog, but I’m here anyway lol.
I used to buy WKs soooooooo much. Like I would either buy it every few weeks or just buy a bunch at once. THEN they went out of business. If you ask most people at the company about this they will act dumb and say they have no idea what you’re talking about lol. I don’t know why they went out of business, but they did!
After they went out of business and then started back up again, their amazing, yummy, always fresh jerky, started to taste like crap.
Before they went out of business every bag I got was always fresh and delicious – no matter the flavor. After they went out of business and then started up again, every other bag was crap. I got a bag for Christmas and you can clearly tell they used lower quality meat – it had that old blood / livery taste. After that, I gave up on them and decided to make it at home!
FYI the other reason they got a black mark from me was the sodium nitrite. This is KNOWN to give people migraines and headaches – and it does it for me. If I have to have a migraine just to have jerky, Ill go someplace else or make it from home lol.
There are quite a bit of companies that do use sodium nitrite, but then there are also companies that do not. If you are getting headaches or migraines when you eat beef jerky, look on the back of the package, chances are they are using sodium nitrite!
Great post though, thanks for taking the time to write it!