Oberto may still be the second largest national meat snack company that sells well over 100 different dried meat products. Oberto is a family owned company that was formed over 100 years ago in 1918 by Constantino Oberto. In 1967, Safeway became the first national grocery store to carry Oh Boy! Oberto jerky. In 1994, they launched turkey jerky. Then in 2000, they aligned with the major global snack manufacturer Frito-Lay to expand their distribution network, which includes Canada, Mexico, Japan and Norway. In 2009, after slow sales, Oberto Brands ended the distribution deal with Frito-Lay and began distributing its own products.
Overall, a very impressive success story, where the Oberto family took their fair share of risks to get where they are today. Oberto announced in April 2018 that it was being sold to Premium Brand Holdings. Oberto is distributed under the name of 2017 Oberto Sausage Co., and they are located in Kent, Washington.
The next review on Oberto will focus on a 0.75 ounce/21 gram bag of their teriyaki flavored beef jerky. This jerky is advertised as being an all-natural lean teriyaki beef jerky made with real wood smoke for an almost unimaginable flavor experience. The bag was purchased at an Ollie’s discount store located in Niagara Falls, New York.
Ingredient Review
Pork, Beef, Sugar, Soy Sauce (Water, Wheat, Soybeans, Salt), Brown Sugar, Water, Pineapple Juice Concentrate, Vinegar, Spices and Natural Flavorings, Garlic Juice, Honey, Sea Salt, Ginger Juice, Apple Juice Concentrate, Plum Juice Concentrate, Carrot Juice Concentrate. 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.
We have a busy liquid marinade here consisting of a decent soy sauce, water, healthy pineapple juice concentrate, super healthy garlic juice, an unknown brand of honey, super healthy ginger juice, healthy apple juice concentrate, healthy plum juice concentrate, and super healthy carrot juice concentrate.
The sugar level is on the high side at 6 grams of sugar per 21 grams of sugar to lose a rating. Our preference for a sweet based jerky as we have here with this teriyaki flavor to be 5 grams of sugar or less per 28 grams of jerky. The salt level is acceptable at 270mg of salt per 21 grams of jerky.
This jerky does qualify to have no sodium nitrite, or any other similar unhealthy preservatives. Instead, sea salt and vinegar to a lesser extent acts as preservatives. Admirably, this jerky qualifies to have no MSG added.
Decent (7/10) – Ingredient Rating
Taste Review
OBERTO – TERIYAKI BEEF JERKY
Written by guest jerky reviewer Stéphane Leclerc
Uhmm, I am quite impressed! This is definitely one of the better Teriyaki flavors I’ve had in some time. I am a bit on the fence with the texture of the jerky. Although it is fine, I find there is a little richness missing. This Oberto Jerky does taste the way a Teriyaki should. It is sweet, as is to be expected from such a flavor but not too sweet in my own opinion.
There is a nice level of soy accompanied by a slight little kick of ginger and this give this jerky a beautiful brightness. It is really addictive and I managed to finish my bag faster than what it takes for Roseanne Barr to put both her feet in mouth.
All and all, this Oberto Teriyaki Jerky has a very enjoyable Asian flair, it’s a very tasty treat and so addictive. I am sure it’ll be a hit with Teriyaki enthusiasts and I rate this jerky a Very Good (9/10) taste rating.
Here is what Mark had to say about this teriyaki beef jerky flavor from Oberto: “Thanks Stéphane for the great taste review. But it was the sleeping pill Ambien fault with Roseanne… This is a wildly imaginative ingredient list for a teriyaki flavor that does a very good job of pulling off a teriyaki flavor. Traditional teriyaki flavor aspects such as soy/sweetness/pineapple/garlic/ginger / smoked? are all covered. While this teriyaki flavor itself is enjoyable, I do have two complaints.”
”Yes, a teriyaki flavor is supposed to be sweet tasting, but it’s just too sweet tasting here for my liking. The sweetness from the juices are great tasting, and adds to the overall flavor greatly. However, the sugary level from the white sugar is a little too overwhelming IMHO. The excessive sweetness detracts from the natural beef flavor.”
”Second, I am not much of a fan of this texture. Every piece is quite small in size with too many strips being just shavings or tiny bits of jerky. It’s as if Oberto decided to throw all of their jerky scraps into their 0.75 ounce/21 gram bags. True, this bag is small in size, and could not fit long jerky strips. However, the bag is big enough to hold larger strips than what we have here, if you can even call them jerky strips to begin with.”
”This jerky was shared between eight people. The feedback was consistent, where everybody enjoyed the overall flavor. It was pretty much unanimous that this teriyaki flavor is interesting and unique tasting, where the most common taste rating awarded was Good (8/10). Most complaints were about the aforementioned sweetness level arguably being too high, and/or about the tiny size of jerky strips/shavings/bits/dust. Oberto has a winner here that is easily correctable. I am impressed not having tried Oberto jerky since 2014, where Oberto has come a long way since 2008 in improving the quality of their ingredient lists.”
This 0.75 ounce/21 gram bag sold for 79 cents, which works out to $1.05 an ounce. That rates as an extremely cheap price. Granted the bag was bought at a discount store.
Bag Review
This non-resealable professional looking plastic bag has everything imprinted on to the bag itself, both on the front and back. On the front there are illustrations displayed of people doing various sports and exercise.
A slogan printed on this bag is “All Natural”. Some facts printed on this bag are “Premium Steak Marinated in Delicious Teriyaki”, “7G Protein”, “60 Calories”, “No Artificial Ingredients”, “Minimally Processed”, and “Family Owned Since 1918”.
All bag categories are covered here. Commendably, a toll free phone number is provided for customer inquiries. There is a good blurb printed on the back of the bag about Oberto.
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